Redundancy Employment Law In The UK

UK employment law covers various topics to do with the rights of employees and the obligations
of employers, from minimum wages, working hours regulation, anti-discrimination provisions,
fair-pay requirements and unfair dismissal rules. One of the major areas of the employment
relationship that is regulated is redundancy. Employment law on redundancy covers the entire
process of redundancy, including the notice given to employees, the process for selecting
employees for redundancy, and the redundancy pay due to employees.

Redundancy employment law regarding the process of redundancy requires employers to give
affected employees sufficient notice regarding the redundancy process. Employees must be
consulted about the redundancy process and the alternatives to widespread redundancies. For
example, methods of reducing the number of redundancies may be considered, such as ways of
implementing budget cuts.

If an employee is selected for redundancy, the employer must give them at least their
minimum statutory notice period, which is at least one week’s notice if they have been
employed between one month and two years; one week’s notice for each year if they are
employed between two and 12 years; and 12 weeks’ notice if they are employed for 12
years or more. It is important to check the individual employment contract to see if a notice
period different to the statutory minimum was agreed. And, in some cases the employer may
have included a payment in lieu of notice clause, in which case the employer can end the
employment contract without any notice but must pay the employee for the notice period
instead.

Employment redundancy law also requires the employer to provide the employee with a
written notice of the redundancy which includes the reasons for redundancy. Alternatively, this
may be included within a compromise agreement which includes various clauses, generally
including a clause which bars further legal action once the compromise agreement is signed.

It is crucial that employees get legal advice from an employment solicitor before signing
a compromise agreement. If the employee is dissatisfied with any of the clauses in the
compromise agreement, they may be able to negotiate them with their employer.

Posted in: employee rights, employer rights, employment, employment law