Redundancy

Q. Our company is going to make compulsory redundancies. I know it has to consult the union if there are to be 20 redundancies or more, but what are the notice requirements? And is there a minimum redundancy payment for compulsory redundancies?

A. A redundancy is still a dismissal, and if an employer intends to terminate a contract of employment by reason of redundancy, it must give the employee the statutory minimum period of notice (or their contractual notice, if this is more).

The statutory minimum is a week's notice for employees with between one month's and two years' service; two weeks' notice for those with two complete years of service; and then an extra week's notice for every further complete year of service up to a maximum of 12 weeks.

Notice can run alongside consultation, but if an employer issues notice without having started any consultation at all, this may make any dismissals unfair.

The notice period is the same for both compulsory and voluntary redundancy (unless you have a collective agreement that deals with them differently). The redundancy payment is calculated in the same way for both, meaning that anyone with at least two years' continuous service qualifies for a redundancy payment based on their age and length of service.

For further information, see the LRD booklet Redundancy law