Redundancy selection and part-time or fixed-term employees

It is unlawful to select employees for redundancy because they are part-time workers or fixed-term employees, unless this can be objectively justified. As well as being potential indirect sex discrimination, it is likely to be a breach of the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002, and the Part-time Workers Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment Regulations 2000 (see Chapter 2: Part-time workers). In Whiffen v Milham Ford Girls School [2001] IRLR 468, a policy of selecting temporary employees for redundancy first was indirectly sex discriminatory because women were more likely to hold temporary posts.

Selecting employees on the basis of the need to demonstrate flexibility, for example, in relation to locations or shifts, may be indirectly discriminatory against women, who are more likely to have caring responsibilities (London Transport v Edwards [1997] IRLR 157).