Bumping

The law allows employers to carry out a practice known as bumping, when an employee whose role is redundant is offered someone else’s role, resulting in that person’s dismissal. The reason for the second person’s dismissal will still be redundancy as long as overall there is a reduction either in the work to be done (Packman t/a Packman Lucas Associates v Fauchon [2012] UKEAT/0017/12/LA) or the employees available to do it. Whether it is a fair dismissal will depend on all the circumstances.

Failing to consider bumping can itself sometimes make a redundancy unfair. Relevant factors include how different the jobs are, the difference in pay, the qualifications and experience of the employee at risk and their relative lengths of service (Lionel Leventhal v North UKEAT/0265/04). A tribunal will also want to establish whether the job would have been accepted if offered. If not, any compensation will be nominal. In practice, an employee wanting to be considered for a different position should raise this early in consultation, and confirm in writing. This makes it harder for the employer to argue that the employee would not have been interested even if the position had been offered.

An employer is not obliged to consider bumping in every case (Byrne v Arvin Meritor LVS (UK) Ltd EAT/239/02). It always depends on the circumstances.