Topics

Redundancy

New and updated

  • Date:
    9 May 2008
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Redundancy: Selection for alternative employment

    In Ralph Martindale & Co Ltd v Harris EAT/0166/07, the EAT held that a redundancy dismissal was unfair where the process for deciding who should be offered an alternative post involved no objective criteria and no attempt to assess the candidates against a job description. It was unfair for the employer to rely mainly on a subjective assessment of whose management style would best suit the new post.

  • Date:
    14 April 2008
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures: Procedural fairness and redundancy dismissal

    In Davies v Farnborough College of Technology [2008] IRLR 14, the EAT held that a dismissal that involved a breach of step two of the statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedure was automatically unfair, even though a full and proper appeal had been heard. The tribunal was wrong to find that the appeal "cured" the defect in the original hearing. However, it was clear that a dismissal would have occurred even if the procedure had been properly followed, so the compensatory award was set at zero.

  • Date:
    27 February 2008
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    TUPE case law update

    This article looks at some of the important judgments in the area of the transfer of undertakings over the past year.

  • Date:
    25 February 2008
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Collective redundancies: Protective award starts at 90 days' pay

    In Hutchins v Permacell Finesse Ltd (in administration) EAT/0350/07, the EAT held that the starting point for determining a protective award is 90 days' pay, even where fewer than 100 redundancies are involved and the minimum consultation period is 30 days.

  • Date:
    11 January 2008
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Transfer of undertakings: TUPE confers no additional rights on employees

    In Jackson v Computershare Investor Services plc [2007] EWCA Civ 1065, the Court of Appeal ruled that the provision in the TUPE Regulations to the effect that a transferred contract of employment will have effect after the transfer as if originally made between the employee and the transferee could not be construed so as to give the employee a contractual benefit to which she had not been entitled under her original contract.

  • Date:
    24 December 2007
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Age discrimination: recent tribunal decisions

    A review of a number of recent employment tribunal decisions suggests that some employers remain unaware of the implications of, or are struggling with, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/1031), which became law on 1 October 2006. The decisions also demonstrate the approach that the tribunals might take to the question of justification of discrimination and to the assessment of injury to feelings compensation.

  • Date:
    24 November 2007
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Redundancy: Employers must consult over reasons for closure

    In UK Coal Mining Ltd v (1) National Union of Mineworkers (Northumberland Area) (2) The British Association of Colliery Management EAT/0397/06 & EAT/0141/07, the EAT held that the duty to consult about ways of "avoiding" redundancies inevitably involves consultation about the reasons behind the proposed dismissals and, contrary to previous authority, is not limited to consultation about how the redundancies are to be effected.

  • Date:
    4 September 2007
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Redundancy: Volunteers for redundancy did not resign but were dismissed

    In Optare Group Ltd v Transport and General Workers Union EAT/0143/07 the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that a tribunal was right to hold that voluntary redundancies counted towards the total number of proposed redundancy dismissals at an establishment, which in this case was sufficient to trigger the statutory collective consultation requirements.

  • Date:
    27 June 2007
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Unfair dismissal: Assessment of compensation

    In Software 2000 Ltd v Andrews and others EAT/0533/06 the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that where a procedurally unfair dismissal has not been rendered fair by the operation of s.98A(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the tribunal must nevertheless consider if there is evidence to suggest that a fair procedure might have led to dismissal, thereby justifying a percentage reduction in compensation under Polkey.

  • Date:
    17 April 2007
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Protective awards: A protective award for failure to consult a recognised trade union does not extend to cover employees in respect of whom the trade union is not recognised

    In Transport & General Workers' Union v Brauer Coley Ltd (in administration) [2007] IRLR 207 EAT the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that where a trade union is successful in proceedings brought for failure to consult on collective redundancies, the protective award cannot be claimed by any employees in respect of whom the trade union was not recognised by the employer.