Letting staff go is a situation you hope your business will never face. If you’ve been lucky enough to avoid a redundancy issue to date, it doesn’t mean you won’t in the future.
In the unfortunate event you encounter a redundancy situation, you need to ensure fair selection in the redundancy process.
With that in mind, we’ve brought together some redundancy essentials you need to be wary of.
Are employees protected?
Yes, which is why fair selection is so important.
Employees are protected by the Redundancy Payment Act 1967 – 2007. If a redundancy situation impacts more than one employee who performs the same or similar roles, it is essential to apply fair selection to ensure a transparent and fair process.
The element of fair selection is outlined under section 6(3) of the Unfair Dismissal Act, which states:
"If an employee was dismissed due to redundancy but the circumstances constituting the redundancy applied equally to one or more other employees in similar employment with the same employer who have not been dismissed, and either-
- The selection of that employee for dismissal resulted wholly or mainly from one or more of the [automatically unfair reasons for dismissal] or another matter that would not be a ground justifying dismissal, or,
- He was selected for dismissal in contravention of a procedure (being a procedure that has been agreed upon by or on behalf of the employer and by the employee or a trade union … representing him or has been established by the custom and practice of the employment concerned) relating to redundancy and there were no special reasons justifying a departure from that procedure,
then the dismissal shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to be an unfair dismissal.”
Fair selection methods
As the WRC will often favour the employee, it is your responsibility to ensure that any position put at risk of redundancy is subject to fair procedure.
There are two fair selection methods, LIFO (Last in First Out) and a selection matrix. If, as an employee, you find yourself in a redundancy situation, check the redundancy policy in your employee handbook to ensure your employer has not set out the criteria they will use. If they have not specified what selection method you will use, you can adopt the method that best suits the business.
Unfair dismissal claim
In the case of Olivia Dempsey v C&F Automotive Ltd, t/a Iralco [UD 788/2014], the employer was making a considerable loss. The manufacturing of some products was moved abroad or ceased.
While employees did realise that the company was not prospering as it used to, Mrs Dempsey was never officially informed about the seriousness of the situation. Mrs Dempsey was with the company for more than 10 years and had performed different tasks. When the company had no alternative but to follow through with compulsory redundancy, she was working as “the floater” where her job was to complete the unfinished tasks of others.
As a result of her role being varied, she gained a considerable amount of skills.
The employer not only failed to put Mrs Dempsey at risk of redundancy but also overlooked her experience within the company and her availability to perform several other jobs. The employer instead proceeded with a stand-alone redundancy. Mrs Dempsey was awarded €20,000 in compensation for an unfair dismissal.
If you find yourself in a situation where you have to follow through a redundancy process, contact our 24-hour advice line on 0818 923 923. You can also complete a contact form to receive a call back.
