LRD guides and handbook October 2013

Redundancy law - a guide to using the law for union reps

Chapter 1

1. WHAT IS REDUNDANCY?

Not every situation in which employees lose jobs through no fault of their own is covered by redundancy law, and confusingly, “redundancy” has two different statutory meanings. One is used to establish an individual’s right to a redundancy payment and to be fairly dismissed, and the other relates to collective consultation.

This Chapter explains the meaning of redundancy in the context of individual rights to a redundancy payment and to claim unfair dismissal. The definition of redundancy for the purposes of collective consultation rights is looked at in Chapter 2.