Redundancy, Restructuring & Collective Consultation: Process and Disputes – for Businesses
The team provides support to businesses undertaking restructures and re-organisations, understanding that these can be daunting processes for a business to manage correctly and fairly in order to avoid any unfair dismissal claim.
We can assist with the required planning and timetabling of the process and provide template letters and scripts for notification of employees who are identified as “at risk” and assist with structuring a selection process. These matters are best considered prior to any notification to employees and, more crucially, before the business has made any final decision.
We can advise on whether a proposal amounts to a redundancy situation in law and what obligations the business will have in terms of fair selection, consultation with affected employees and consideration of alternatives to redundancy.
Where 20 or more employees are being made redundant over a period of 90 days or less, the business has a duty to carry out a “collective” consultation process with employee representatives of the affected employees, prior to any individual consultation. If 100 or more redundancies are proposed by the business, collective consultation must begin at least 45 days before the first dismissal takes effect. If less than 100 redundancies are proposed, the consultation period is 30 days. There is also a requirement for the business to notify the Secretary of State within a certain period.
