Leaving job before redundancy notice is issued

Employees lose the right to statutory redundancy pay if they leave work before the redundancy notice is issued (Secretary of State for Employment v Greenfield EAT/147/89). However, employees under notice of redundancy can agree with their employers to extend the notice, for example, in the hope of work picking up, without jeopardising their redundancy entitlement (Mowlem Northern v Watson [1990] IRLR 500).

If an employee agrees to an earlier termination date, the three-month time limit for bringing an unfair dismissal claim will run from that earlier date (Palfrey v Transco plc [2004] IRLR 916).

The time limit for a claim for statutory redundancy pay is six months from the date the contract ends. However, if an individual wants to claim that the dismissal decision was unfair, the time limit is the normal three months from the dismissal date. These deadlines are rarely extended (see Chapter 10: Dismissal).