redundancy query

Bobokerr

Hi,
I work in a company that has announced upcoming redundancies.

They will have 2 different criteria for selection;
Unionised employees will be determined through last-in first-out, while non-unionised staff will have to reapply and reinterview for their jobs (say if a dept had to shrink from 10 to 8 similar job roles).

Is a company permitted to run 2 separate processes, or are they obliged to have one process regardless of employee status?
Thanks!

Borzoi

Boboker89611862 wrote:

Is a company permitted to run 2 separate processes, or are they obliged to have one process regardless of employee status?
Thanks!

My understanding is that any redundancy process must be "fair" and therein lies a possible problem here. Is there any departments where non-union and union staff co exist and is subject to layoffs?

The "interview to keep your job" process is open to abuse - so one would wonder about the criteria being used. Is this an Irish company OP?

Bobokerr

Its a foreign multinational, there are no depts with a mix of union and non-union.
I thought a redundancy process had to be fair and uniform, hence the question about 2 different processes.

blindsider

I can see issues here.

A: The new union staff members (LIFO) could claim discrimination for being a union member.

B: The non-union staff members who are 'selected' could claim discrimination if they have a few years service.


I think your HR dept is creating problems for itself. The practical solution here (IMO) would be to do LIFO across the board - the union is forcing their hand - at least the process would be seen to be fair and transparent.

Bobokerr

Yea I can see issues here too, but I wonder if there's any actual legislation on it...

blindsider

http://imca.ie/assets/files/Management%20Themes/Overview%20of%20Redundancy%20Law%20in%20Ireland.pdf

NB- check that this document is up-to-date

See Section 3 - esp. bottom of P. 14, also Section 6 p. 26, para 3:

"The key issue for an employer is to ensure that the criteria chosen can be verified by
reference to company data and that they are applied consistently across the
company"

The Union will have a rep/shop steward to do the negotiations for their members - IMO the non-union members also need to appoint a representative. Ideally, the reps would work together.

I'm not going to comment any further on this issue, because IMO -

a) Too complex for here

b) We don't give legal advice - which this is heading towards....

c) it's too serious and important for the people concerned


Best of luck!

the_syco

Bobokerr wrote: »

while non-unionised staff will have to reapply and reinterview for their jobs (say if a dept had to shrink from 10 to 8 similar job roles).

IMO, you should get legal advice regarding how this may affect future redundancy packages.

By this I mean that in the future, if there was a redundancy situation, they might try to claim you were only employed since 2014 and might try to reduce their obligations to you.