Redundancy

Redundancy

Introduction to Redundancy

Redundancy is one of the five potentially fair reasons for dismissal. 

In a redundancy situation, provided that there has been a dismissal and that the individual qualifies for the right not to be unfairly dismissed, the employer must show that the employee was dismissed by reason of redundancy (as defined in s.139 ERA) and that the decision to dismiss was within the range of reasonable responses of a reasonable employer in those circumstances.

The statutory definition of redundancy, i.e. whether the potentially fair reason of redundancy applies here along with detail in relation to the second limb of the unfair dismissal test in a redundancy context. In addition to considering unfair dismissal, an employee who has been made redundant may be entitled to bring a number of other claims, as follows:

1. Protective award for failure to comply with the collective consultation obligations in s.188 Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (‘TULRCA’);

2. Statutory redundancy payment; and

3. Wrongful dismissal.