Notice

As well as redundancy pay, employees dismissed because of redundancy are entitled to statutory notice, or contractual notice if greater. Information about statutory notice and pay in lieu of notice is found in Chapter 10: Dismissal on pages 268-269.

An employee who has been given notice of dismissal for redundancy can leave without working the whole of the notice — for example, to take up a job offer — and still retain the right to a redundancy payment, but only as long as strict rules are followed:

• the employee must give the employer a written counter-notice to end the employment on an earlier date than the dismissal date already given by the employer (section 136(3) ERA 96);

• the employer can challenge the counter-notice with a further written notice insisting on the original end date, as long as this step is taken before the counter-notice has expired;

• an employee who insists on leaving early instead of working to the end of the notice period after receiving this second notice will lose their redundancy pay; and

• an employment tribunal can award some or all of the redundancy pay, taking into account, for example, the employee’s reasons for leaving early.

Employees lose the right to statutory redundancy pay if they leave before being given notice of dismissal for redundancy (Secretary of State for Employment v Greenfield EAT/147/89).

Employees under notice of redundancy can agree with their employers to extend that 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) (see page 299 of Chapter 10: The Effective Date of Termination ).