Redundancy - Unite the Union

Some years ago, employers had to follow agreed selection procedures or risk
claims for automatic unfair dismissal. The law has now been changed however
and selection in contravention of an agreed procedure will not now be automatically
unfair. It can, however, still be argued that such a dismissal is unfair on
general principles.
Preferred selection processes are often contained in collective agreements. Historically,
the most common method of selection has been (LIFO), where those
with the shortest continuous service in the company are dismissed first. As
pointed out above, it might be problematic to use this method if it results in
more favourable treatment of older employees.
In recent years, many employers have moved to different methods of selection
using a range of criteria. Employers have claimed that LIFO can mean that the
remaining workforce does not have the skills, experience and versatility necessary
for future success. Employers now departing from LIFO must ensure that
the criteria used are those which a ‘reasonable’ employer would have used. If
no reasonable employer would have selected for redundancy on the grounds in
question, then the dismissals are likely to be unfair.
The dismissal of an employee selected for redundancy will be unfair if it is discriminatory
on the grounds of race, age, sex or disability or on the grounds of a
person’s trade union activity. Discriminatory criteria may arise where there appears
to be no obvious intention to discriminate. One such case is where parttime
workers are dismissed for redundancy in advance of full-time workers. The
application of such criteria could be unlawful discrimination on the grounds of
sex because a considerably smaller proportion of women than men can work
full-time because of child care responsibilities. Another example is where sickness
absence is used as one of the selection criteria without taking account of
the fact that a disabled employee might have a higher level of sick leave.
Unfair dismissal is discussed in more detail later in this guide.
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