Redundancy process flawed yet again… $18K award…

A personal grievance claim for unjustified dismissal has resulted in an award from the Employment Relations Authority.  The employee was having problems with his manager, and also was never given an employment agreement despite several requests.

Without warning he was taken aside and told that the business was being sold, and he was terminated with two weeks notice.  The employee sought further information on the buyer so he could try to transfer to the new employer but this was refused.

The ERA found that the dismissal was unjustified because the employer had failed to:

(i)            Warn the employee what the meeting was about so he could prepare;

(ii)           Warn him his employment was in jeopardy;

(iii)          Allow him to have a support person present;

(iv)          Provide relevant information; and

(v)           Allow him to give feed back on the proposed redundancy.

The employee was out of work for three months and was awarded $11,800 lost wages and $6,000 compensation, plus costs.

There is a detailed process that has to be gone through in a restructuring or sale process before a redundancy is decided on.

If you need help getting it right please give me a call on (04) 473 6850.

 

Alan Knowsley