376 Chapter 13Employment (1): The contract of employment, employment rights and dismissal
Who can claim redundancy?
In order to claim redundancy, an employee must have at least two years’ continuous
employment. People who are ordinarily employed outside Great Britain cannot claim.Offer of suitable alternative employment
If the employer offers the employee suitable alternative employment, and the employee
unreasonably refuses to accept this, then the employee cannot claim to have been made
redundant. The offer must be made within four weeks of the expiry of the employment and
must be reasonable in all the circumstances.Redundancy payments
A redundancy payment is calculated in the same way as the basic award for unfair dis-
missal. (See p. 371 earlier in this chapter.) However, a redundancy payment cannot be
reduced on account of the employee’s conduct.
It is important to remember that what is being considered here is the right to a statutory
redundancy payment. The terms of many contracts of employment agree that more gener-
ous payments should be made in the event of redundancy.Procedure for large-scale redundancies
In Williams v Compair Maxam Ltd (1982)five principles were laid out to be followed when
a large number of people are to be made redundant:
(i) The employer should give the employees as much warning as possible.
(ii) The employer should consult the trade union in order to be fair, and to cause as little
hardship as possible.
(iii) Subjective criteria should not be used. The process should be objective and matters such
as attendance records and length of service should be considered.
(iv) Union representatives should be consulted as to the appropriate criteria to be used.
(v) The employer should try to offer alternative employment instead of just making
employees redundant.
If the employer does not follow these procedures, then it seems likely that the employees
will not have been made redundant but will have been unfairly dismissed. This will
be beneficial to the employees as the tribunal may make a compensatory award. As we
have seen, the basic award for unfair dismissal will be the same as a statutory redundancy
payment.Taylor vKent County Council (1969)A 53-year-old, who had been headmaster of a school for ten years, was made redundant
when his school was merged with another school. He was offered alternative employment
as a supply teacher at his headmaster’s salary. He declined the offer.
HeldHe was made redundant. The alternative employment was not suitable.