Redundancy is an act of dismissal and is governed by
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Section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 which deals with dismissal and redundancy payments.
• Dismissal must be caused be an employer's need to reduce his or her workforce or cease business at that location, Employees with two years continuous service will be entitled to redundancy payment.
• Employers are under no legal obligation to inform and consult employee representatives in cases involving fewer than 20 staff. however, they may be at risk of successful unfair dismissal claims if they fail to inform and consult individual employees who are to be dismissed.
• For workers invotved in a collective redundancy situation, that is where 20 or more are to lose their jobs, redundancy means a dismissal for a reason unrelated to the individual employee, where for example a business closes down.
• In collective redundancies consultation with the employees must take place vehin either a 30day period for 20-99 proposed redundancies or a 90-day period for 100-plus redundancies, from as soon as management knows there are to be redundancies. It was on this point that Asda slipped up there was no 90-day consultation period. Collective redundancies are governed by the Trade Union and Labour Relations Consolidation Act 1992,
• Where employees are represented by a union recognised for collective bargaining purposes the employer must Inform and consult the union official.