redundancy pitfalls & coronavirus related mistakes

Businesses that are operating, Those employees may have been Whilst in the consultation process, but need to continue to furlough off for childcare reasons which employers should be looking workers can still get support for may lead to discrimination claims internally to see if there are any roles wages through an extended JRS. as more women may have been that would be deemed as suitable Guidance on this can be found furloughed as generally women take alternative employment. Whether on https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ the majority of the childcare. a job would be classed as suitable claim-for-wage-costs-through-the- alternative employment is based on coronavirus-job-retention-scheme. Opinion based scoring should be a variety of things: But even with the above support avoided and more than one person staying in place, some employers should be involved so the average • How similar the work in the new may have to consider redundancies of scores can be calculated and role is to their current job as a last resort and the Coronavirus pandemic will not be a valid excuse for skipping any necessary steps. used. By using a range of objective selection criteria, this should reduce the risk of discrimination claims. • • The terms and conditions of the job being offered The employee’s skills and abilities Here we look at the common redundancy pitfalls and how to avoid them: Lack of consultation With Coronavirus impacting on the ability to meet face to face, it is still to carry out the new role and their circumstances in relation to the job vital that meaningful consultation • The pay (including benefits), Not a genuine redundancy processes occur, whether that be in status, hours and location in situation a socially distanced meeting or via comparison to the current role Some may see a redundancy as video calls. to be made redundant. an opportunity to replace under performing employees. Keep in For those that are making 20 or There is the requirement for a trial mind that a redundancy is where more employees redundant within period in the new role too. If an there is no longer a need for a any 90-day period at a single employee refuses the offer of a specific job role within the business, establishment, employers must role that is deemed as suitable not the need to remove a specific follow ‘collective consultation’ rules alternative employment, they may person. Redundancies relate to as well as consulting with individuals forfeit their right to any statutory roles, not individuals. If an employer too. There are specific steps to take redundancy pay. If it comes to light fails to prove there is a genuine and time frames to consider. If fewer that there was a suitable alternative redundancy situation, they could than 20 redundancies are planned role that was not offered then the end up facing a claim of unfair there is only the need to consult with individual may be able to claim for dismissal. individuals and no set time frames. unfair dismissal.

Unfair selection criteria If employers do not meaningfully The selection process for a and correctly consult with redundancy should be fair. In order employees in a redundancy to do this the selection criteria situation, it is possible that any should be transparent, consistent redundancies made will almost and objective. For instance, you certainly be unfair and could cannot use last in, first out alone lead to an employer being taken as a reason as this may lead to to an Employment Tribunal which age discrimination claims as it may may result in a costly award to negatively impact the younger the employee. employees. Another example would be automatically selecting those Making no offer of suitable furloughed for redundancy. alternative employment where

Also remember that those on family- related leave such as maternity, adoption etc. should be given preference when there is suitable alternative employment available.

If you find yourself having to consider redundancies, please do get in touch as we can provide advice and template documentation to enable you to be legally compliant throughout the process.