Employment Law
Redundancy
Redundancy Solicitors in Manchester and London with a wealth of experience dealing with redundancies
Redundancy is dismissal from a workplace position, caused by the employer needing to reduce the workforce due to the cessation of a workplace position. Being made redundant is not the same as being sacked. It will not be the result of any wrongdoing on your part, it should be because your role no longer exists.
Whether you have been selected for redundancy, or face the prospect of being made redundant, it is important to understand your rights under employment law to ensure you have been treated fairly during the redundancy process, or to ensure that you are entitled to redundancy pay and/or compensation.
If you have been notified that you are being made redundant, our redundancy solicitors can advise you of your rights and act on your behalf to help you keep your job or receive the compensation you deserve.
Grounds For Redundancy
Some of the reasons where an employer can make an employee redundant include:
- The business is moving or closing down
- The job position no longer exists
- Reducing the number of staff to save costs
- New technology or machinery resulting in unnecessary job positions
What Can I Do If I Have Been Selected For Redundancy?
If you are selected for redundancy, the burden is on the employer to ensure that you have been treated fairly during the redundancy process, and that you receive any entitlements from being made redundant, such as redundancy pay.
Employees who are at risk of being made redundant must be consulted by their employer. Once your employer has notified you of being selected for redundancy, your employer should invite you to a consultation where they will explain the reason for making you redundant, and to discuss the option of other viable routes of maintaining your position. If in the unlikelihood your employer does not provide you the opportunity for a consultation, you have the right to take the matter to the employment tribunal.
Employers should see redundancy as a last resort. Employers should consider all possible means to prevent redundancies, such as finding alternative roles for employees at risk of redundancy.
Redundancy Rights
If you have been made redundant, you may be entitled to certain redundancy rights depending on:
- Length of service
- Redundancy pay
- Compensation
- Notice period
- Consultation with employer
- Time to move into a new job
- Alternative employment
Am I Entitled To Any Notice?
- One week’s notice if you have been employed between one month and two years
- One week for each year if you have been employed between two and twelve years
- 12 weeks’ notice if you have been employed for over 12 years
How Much Redundancy Pay Am I Entitled To?
- If you are under the age of 22, you will receive half of your weekly wages for each full year of employment
- If you are aged between 22 and 40, you will receive one week’s pay for each full year of employment
- If you are aged 41 or over, you will receive 1.5 weeks pay for each full year of employment
The maximum statutory redundancy pay an employer is liable to pay is £15,750 regardless of the length of service and salary, with weekly payments capped at £525. However, depending on your contract, you may be entitled to receive more in terms of redundancy package.
It is important to note that this only relates to statutory redundancy payments. Many employers will offer their own redundancy package as well. You should check your contract or any employee information or handbooks to check your entitlements. If your total redundancy package is under £30,000 it will be tax free.
Can I Challenge The Redundancy?
If a selection of the workforce is being made redundant it is possible to challenge the decision to make you redundant. Employers should have a selection process in place based on a number of objective factors.
Employers can take into consideration any factor relating to your work for example, disciplinary record or appraisal scores. This is considered a fair selection process as it is entirely based on work performance.
However, your employer cannot take into consideration subjective factors. This includes factors like age, race, gender, marital status, whistleblowing, religious beliefs or sexual orientation to name a few. If you believe you are being made redundant for any of these grounds then you may be able to challenge the decision and make a claim for discrimination and unfair dismissal.
How Can Monarch Solicitors Help?
Redundancy is often an unpleasant and stressful experience. Our experienced redundancy solicitors can provide care and support on all aspects of redundancy during such distressing times.
Our specialist employment solicitors have decades of experience dealing with employment issues. They are well equipped to deal with a whole manner of different cases no matter how big or small.
Our team have had great success negotiating settlement offers, taking claims to the Employment Tribunal, and many more. Every person we represent receives the same high quality of treatment and personal service.
Legal Costs & Service Transparency
If you are considering taking Court action due to a breach of employment law the legal costs should be weighed against the amount likely to be received in damages.
We know it’s important to your business that the legal costs of the dispute are kept under control so as to not affect your cash flow.
We’ll not only ensure that you’re aware of costs implications from the outset, we’ll provide you with step-by-step cost estimates or fixed fees for each stage of the work. We’ll also consider funding options to suit your business needs so you can be sure that our legal services are cost effective.
For more information regarding legal funding options, please click here for more information.
About Our Employment Team
At Monarch Solicitors, our employment lawyers have vast experience, expertise, and knowledge in resolving all kinds of domestic and international employment disputes, whether it be complex or technical or simply a disagreement over pay and working conditions.
We have particular expertise in relation to the following areas:
- Bullying and harassment
- Constructive dismissal
- Discrimination
- Employee grievance
- Employment tribunal representation
- Equal pay disputes
- Garden leave
- Maternity and family rights
- Restrictive covenants
- Settlement agreements
- Unfair dismissal
- Unpaid wages
- Whistleblowing
Contact Our Employment Solicitors
Our expert employment lawyers are available to discuss your redundancy.
Please contact our employment advisors for immediate assistance by sending an email to us at [email protected] and one of our employment solicitors shall call you back.
Alternatively, please call our employment solicitors in Manchester on 0330 127 8888 for a no obligation discussion.
Monarch Solicitors are a leading UK law firm and our award-winning Manchester solicitors, London solicitors and Birmingham solicitors offer their legal expertise nationally and internationally.
We are also able to leverage an international network spanning across Hong Kong, Turkey and Dubai to provide seamless assistance with cross-border matters relating to redundancy.
Contact Us Today
FAQ
Historically it has not been easy to challenge a selection pool, however an employer must be able to demonstrate that it has “genuinely applied” its mind to the question of the appropriate selection pool and must in addition consult with affected employees on the pool, which means asking their views.
Yes, as long as the reason for the redundancy is not connected with your pregnancy or maternity leave. If you are made redundant shortly after you announce your pregnancy, an employer will not be acting unlawfully if it can be shown that the decision had nothing whatsoever to do with the pregnancy.
If you are in a unique role, there is no requirement for a selection pool. Similarly, there is no requirement for a selection pool if your employer closes its whole business. An employer otherwise does have a degree of flexibility when deciding on the redundancy pool, however it must act reasonably.
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