Voluntary redundancy 





An employer can ask for volunteers to avoid compulsory redundancies. There is no obligation to ask for volunteers and not doing so will not make compulsory redundancies unfair (Rogers and others v Vosper Thornycroft [1989] IRLR 82). 


An employer can devise its own procedures for voluntary redundancies, preferably in consultation with any recognised union. Like any other procedure, they must not discriminate unlawfully against protected groups such as part-time workers, young workers, those engaged in lawful trade union activities or disabled employees, or penalise employees for exercising their statutory rights. 


Organisations subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) (see page 269) must comply with the PSED when devising and implementing redundancy programmes. A proper equality impact assessment, in consultation with the union, is the best way of securing compliance. 


Where employees volunteer for redundancies, reps should take care that they are not volunteering because they believe they will not get a fair chance at available jobs due to discrimination. In Derby Specialist Fabrication v Burton [2001] IRLR 69, an employee who volunteered for redundancy for that reason was able to claim constructive discriminatory dismissal. 


 




Voluntary redundancy packages are often conditional on the signing of a Settlement Agreement promising not to bring an employment tribunal claim (see Chapter 14, page 488). 


There is no statutory obligation to apply a selection procedure when deciding who to accept for voluntary redundancy, or to accept employees who put themselves forward. Ordinary standards of fairness and non-discrimination apply. 


Terms for voluntary redundancy are usually better than those for compulsory redundancy, but there is no law that says they must be better. 





As long as there is a genuine redundancy situation when the employer invites volunteers, voluntary redundancies are normally treated as dismissals, in the same way as compulsory redundancies. However, the situation is not always clear and reps need to be alert to the risks, as the next case highlights: 



Similarly, in Birch & another v University of Liverpool [1985] IRLR 165, the Court of Appeal ruled that employees who accepted early retirement when faced with a threat of compulsory redundancy ended their contracts by mutual consent. They were not dismissed for redundancy.