The employer must consult each effected employee before dismissal notices are handed out, so that there is a chance of real consultation and time for the employee to respond. The selected group may change due to the consultation process.

Consulting Each Employee

The employer must consult each effected employee before dismissal notices are handed out, so that there is a chance of real consultation and time for the employee to respond. The selected group may change due to the consultation process.

The consultation must involve the following:

Why their type of job is under threat.

Explain why according to the selection criteria this employee may be chosen for redundancy. (They have not been selected yet as the dismissal notices have yet to be sent out).

The employee should be given a couple of days to respond after being told.

The employer should consider any views or opinions expressed by the employee.

Both the employer and employee should consider any alternative work that the employee could do or any ways in which the employee could stay in their current job.

Once the selection has been finally decided the employer should have a second interview with each of the effected employees. This is when the employer can actually hand out the dismissal notices.

Other Work

The employer can offer the employee other work instead of making them redundant. The employee has a choice whether to accept it or not. Though if the employee unreasonably refuses the offer the employer may avoid paying them redundancy pay.

The employer can offer the employee a job identical to their current job or a job with similar skills.

The job must have similar pay, conditions and skill requirements.

Any refusal is looked at from each individual employee’s view. Some employees may accept the offer others for their own personal reasons may not. For example, the new job may require more travelling for some employees than their current job, but less for others.

The alternative job offer must be made before the current job ends and the start date must be no more than 4 weeks after the old job ended.

The first 4 weeks of the new job will be a trial period. During this time or when the 4 weeks have finished the employee can still leave the job and claim dismissal and redundancy pay. The employer and employee can agree a longer trial period for the new job if they want the 4 weeks is the minimum period.