Redundancy Proposal

[mrpenguin]

Hi All,

 

I've got a question on redundancy and wanted to get an understanding on the level of detail or justification I'm entitled to which was used in determining if a role is redundant - hope someone can help.

 

I've been placed in 'pool' for selection for a reduction in headcount, no change to role. The question as to why head count is being reduced (seeking justification) has been asked and the response has been that this information is not being provided.

 

I've been invited to submit a counter proposal to the reduction via the collective consultation process, which I will do regardless, but wanted to understand if my employer is obliged to justify the reduction in business terms (do they have a valid reason, accounting or strategic etc)?

 

Many thanks!

 

Mr P

[ericsbrother]

redundancy can be for a number of reasons but "operational reasons" is the usual cover all and can mean company cannot afford to keep everyone due to lack of funds or business. The criteria for selection when shedding a number of people from a larger pool are fraught as the employer must be able to show that they werent discriminating against people with a particular characteristic such as age, sex etc. commonly people are put on notice this is happening and people then either apply for one of the "new" jobs or are invited to consider redundancy.

Your counter proposal should either address the need for redundancy by showing that there are no technical or financial reasons and that people are still required for operational reasons ie: remaining employees forced to work longer hours to do the work of the missing people after the event is not redundancy but unlawful dismissal. If the reason is one of money then shorter hours reducing payroll for an agreed period of time to allow for future upturn might work but many will struggle is they have high rent/mortgage.

Your employer should tell you which of the reasons they are using though.

[mrpenguin]

Thanks for the reply, the underlying reason appears to be for efficiency purposes in as far as removal of duplication throughout the business, however, no other team performs the same function as my team which doesn't make sense in terms of reducing headcount. The counter proposal highlights the need for the full compliment and so I guess I;ll just have to wait and see (fingers crossed).

[ericsbrother]

OK, they should be having discussions with the affected people and the consultation time will vary according to how many people are affected. You can look it up to see what is the correct time for your situation.