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Projects, redundancy & restructuring
We know that any redundancy process is difficult for employers and employees alike. Employers are required by law to consult extensively with trade unions, other employee representatives and employees. Consultation must cover the need to reduce workforce roles or create new ones to better align with the business feature needs, pools for selection, selection criteria and application of that criteria and suitable alternative employment. Our experienced team are experts at planning and carrying out collective and individual redundancy processes in a way that is efficient and effective for all involved.
We regularly help clients navigate the complexities of employment law, offering practical advice to ensure that the correct redundancy procedure is followed. Getting the process wrong can be expensive, very time consuming and harm the reputation of any employer. We help make sure employers do not ignore their collective information and consultation obligations and minimise the risk of any claims down the line.
Our extensive experience and expertise includes:
- Individual and collective redundancies, ranging from single employees to hundreds
- Managing employee consultations, including working with unions and other elected representatives
- Defining pools for selection
- Creating and applying a fair redundancy selection process
- Suitable alternative employment
- Statutory redundancy payments
- Changing terms and conditions
- Temporary lay-offs and short-time working
- Business transfers and outsourcing (TUPE regulations)
- Defending unfair dismissal and discrimination claims at Tribunals.
How does the consultation process work?
Failure to conduct a proper consultation process could result in claims of unfair dismissal and even discrimination, so it is important to get it right. You must consult with all employees who could be affected by redundancy, although there are different considerations to factor in depending on how many redundancies you plan to make. It is also important to remember that you must not present your final (decided upon) redundancy plans at the start of the consultation process.
Consultations can take place face to face, using video conferencing or over the phone and should involve explaining the situation to employees and the business’s proposals getting their feedback, which should be worked into final plans.
If you are planning to make 20 or more employees redundant within 90 days, you must inform and consult with any trade unions or employee representatives over 30 days. 45 days if 100+ are at risk of redundancy.
Don’t forget that you must also consult with any employees who are currently on maternity leave.
In collective redundancy cases, you can only give notice of redundancy related termination of employment once the consultation process has finished and a minimum time period has elapsed since the start of the consultation process – 30 days for between 20 to 99 redundancies and 45 days for 100 or more.
How do I select employees for redundancy?
It is very important to select employees for redundancy in an objectively fair way and not discriminate on grounds of a protected characteristic.
For example, you must not select employees because of e.g. their age, disability, race, sex, religion or part-time employment status.
Instead, it is best practice to base selection criteria on items that can be objectively measured, to reduce the risk of subjectivity creeping in to redundancy selection.
How much notice do I have to give?
Notice can only be given once you have finished consulting everyone and in cases of collective redundancies, the relevant minimum period has passed.
The length of notice will depend on how long the employee has worked for you, as well as the individual terms of their contract.
Our approach
Handling employment law issues can be a big distraction when you are trying to run a business. Get it wrong and it can tie up lots of management time as well as being very costly. But, when you get it right, it complements the business and keeps you running smoothly.
So that’s our job as employment lawyers – to keep your business running smoothly and if an occasional hiccup occurs – because life is like that – we’ll help you get through it with minimal disruption.
Our team of specialist employment lawyers, based in Kent, cover London and the South East and act for businesses of all shapes and sizes and in many different sectors. Our advice for businesses covers all aspects of the employment relationship, helping to settle disputes, defending employment tribunal claims and providing employment contracts and handbooks.
The fact is that employment law has become much more complicated in recent years. So you can rest assured that we have a team with terrific expertise and experience across the full spectrum of work. What makes us stand out is the depth of the relationship which we will forge with you based on our unwavering commitment to understand the way you and your business operates. That way we design and tailor our service around your needs – not an off-the-shelf formula. You will experience our unrivalled speed of response, which is consistently praised by those we work with.
So whether it’s dealing with employment tribunal claims or providing a telephone helpline service we’ve got all angles covered to provide commercially driven, strategic and practical advice, given with the energy and proactivity you expect from a trusted professional adviser.
To give a flavour of our work here are some recent examples:
- Advising a multi-academy trust on a claim from a former headteacher concerning whistleblowing, unfair dismissal, breach of contract and unpaid wages
- Advising a multi-national food distribution company in respect of a group of current and former employees who tried to move over £20 million worth of our client’s business to a competitor, we successfully took proceedings against them
- Advising a national insurance broker that had to close one of its sites, we took them through the process of consulting with its workforce
- Advising a care home sector charity on strategies for cost reduction which involved imposing changes to terms and pay, the legality of which was subsequently upheld by the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
Accreditations & awards
As a successful SME, we were looking for a highly efficient and professional service when dealing with all HR and legal matters. We have been very impressed with Thomson Snell & Passmore's employment advice service. They have provided excellent, comprehensive compliance advice which has fitted well with our requirements. It has given us confidence and comfort. We highly recommend them and their employment advice service to any SME company.