Redundancy Law Guidance | Thompsons Scotland

Do your employers need to reduce their workforce and you find yourself in a redundancy situation? Thompsons Solicitors are one of Scotland’s leading law firms with a specialist team of employment lawyers who will advise you on your rights if you’re being made redundant.

Being selected for redundancy

Where a redundancy situation is inevitable your employer should use a fair and objective selection process and should not discriminate against you because of your sex, race, age, disability or any other unlawful grounds. If you are a part-time or fixed term employee you should not be treated less favourably than a full-time or permanent employee.

The most commonly used methods for redundancy selection by employers are:

Last in, first out (employees with the shortest length of service are selected first)
Asking for volunteers (self-selection)
Disciplinary records
Staff appraisal markings, skills, qualifications and experience

Although the above are common methods used for the selection process, your employer can make you redundant without having to follow a selection process if your job no longer exists.

Redundancy selection

If you feel you have been unfairly selected for redundancy then you should speak to our employment lawyers as soon as possible, we will discuss the details of your claim with you and advise if you have a valid claim for unfair dismissal and/or unlawful discrimination against your employers.

Our lawyers help many employees who have been unfairly selected for redundancy. Listed below are some of the reasons our clients approach Thompsons where they were unfairly selected for redundancy by their employers:

Gender
Marital status
Sexual orientation
Race
Disability
Religion or belief
Age
Membership or non-membership of a trade union
Health and safety activities
Working pattern (part-time or fixed-term employees)
Maternity leave, birth or pregnancy
Paternity leave, parental or dependants leave
Whistleblowing (eg making disclosures about your employer’s wrongdoing)

Redundancy pay

If you have been employed with your current employer for two years or more you will be entitled to statutory redundancy pay.

Half week’s pay for each full year you were under 22;
One week’s pay for each full year you were 22 or older, but under 41;
One and a half week’s pay for each full year you were 41 or older

The amount of a week’s pay for the purposes of statutory redundancy is capped at £538.

Redundancy payments under £30,000 can usually be paid without the deduction of income tax.

You may be entitled to receive a contractual redundancy payment as a result of a provision in your contract of employment, however not all contracts of employment include such a provision.

Exceptions

You will not be entitled to statutory redundancy pay if:

Your employer makes an offer to keep you on and you unreasonably refuse;
Your employer offers you suitable alternative work which you refuse without good reason
Being dismissed for misconduct doesn’t count as redundancy; a redundancy payment would not be made in these circumstances.

Time Limits

If you believe you have not received, or have received an incorrect statutory redundancy payment then a claim must be lodged at the Employment Tribunal within six months minus one day of the date of your dismissal.

However if you wish to bring any other claim arising from the termination of your employment then time limits are much shorter. For example, if you wish to raise a claim on the basis that:

Your dismissal was unfair;
You have not received proper notice pay, or
Your employer has failed to properly consult with you about your dismissal

A claim must be lodged within three months minus one day of the date of the act about which you are complaining. If you wish to pursue any of these claims along with a claim for redundancy then all claims (including redundancy pay) should be lodged within the three-month time limit.

Prior to lodging your claim with the Employment Tribunal you are required to engage in the ACAS Early Conciliation Scheme, this must be done within the normal three-month time limit as mentioned above.

A claim will not be accepted by the Tribunal until the Early Conciliation process is completed and ACAS has issued a Certificate to this effect. Although it is possible this may extend the time for lodging a claim in the Tribunal, we recommend that you engage in the Early Conciliation as soon as possible so that you can complete this process and lodge your claim with the Tribunal within the normal three-month time limit.

Scotland’s leading Employment Lawyers

If you have not received the correct redundancy payment or feel you have been unfairly selected for redundancy Talk to Thompsons, our team of employment solicitors will provide you with expert advice with regards to your claim against your employer.

Call 0800 0891 331 or fill out our online form and speak to our employment lawyers today.