Dismissal on grounds of redundancy is probably one of the most common reasons for dismissing staff. In today's environment however we find that organisations are constantly trimming small numbers of staff rather than making swingeing cuts in staffing levels as seen a decade or so ago.
Contrary to popular belief, a redundancy is in law a dismissal and therefore subject to the statutory discipline and dismissal procedures. A failure to follow the statutory procedure would in effect make even a voluntary redundancy automatically unfair (provided the employee was inclined to take the matter to a tribunal).
The greatest difficulties we experience with redundancies relate to the consultation requirements, which so many managers find very uncomfortable and insincere given that quite often business decisions have already been made prior to consultation starting. Consultation is however necessary, and a failure to consult adequately can result in compensation of up to 13 weeks pay per individual affected.
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