Offers of alternative work should include details of pay

If an employer offers an employee alternative work following redundancy, it has an obligation to disclose details of the salary attached.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) made the ruling in the case of new business manager Martin Fisher, who was offered but did not accept alternative work as a sales account manager after his post was made redundant.

Fisher's employer did not tell him what his earnings were likely to be in the new job, and within a month of his redundancy he saw the job advertised on similar earnings to those he had received in his old job. He said he would have accepted the job, or at least seriously considered it, if he had known that his earnings would have stayed about the same.

Where information about an alternative position's financial prospects is available, the EAT said, the employer should provide it so that the employee can decide whether the job is a suitable alternative. Failure to do so could make the redundancy unfair.

But the EAT added that, if the employee fails to express an interest in the position or fails to ask for more information (including financial information), their compensation for unfair redundancy may be reduced.

Fisher v Hoopoe Finance UKEAT/0043/05