Redundancy

New and updated

• Date:

  1 February 1995

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Redundancy: Relocation clause defeats redundancy claim

  An employee who agreed to relocate but later decided not to move was not dismissed by reason of redundancy, but rather because of his intention not to comply with the relocation clause in his contract, holds the EAT in Richardson and another v Applied Imaging International Ltd.

• Date:

  1 December 1994

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Duffy v Yeomans & Partners Ltd

  In Duffy v Yeomans & Partners Ltd [1994] IRLR 642 CA, the Court of Appeal held that the Industrial Tribunal had not erred in holding that the employers' failure to consult the appellant employee before dismissing him on grounds of redundancy did not render the dismissal unfair in circumstances in which, on the facts known to the employers at the time the employee was dismissed, consultation would have served no useful purpose, even though the employers had not made a deliberate decision not to consult.

• Date:

  1 November 1994

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Reasonableness: Employer need not actively consider consultation

  In Polkey v AE Dayton Services Ltd, the House of Lords ruled that a redundancy dismissal will usually be unfair if the employee was not warned or consulted prior to dismissal. But the Lords said there may be exceptions to this rule where the employer, at the time of dismissal, could reasonably take the view that consultation or warnings would be useless.

• Date:

  1 March 1993

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Contracts of employment: Employer's attempt to withdraw enhanced redundancy scheme fails

  An employer had no right to withdraw unilaterally its employees' contractual entitlement to enhanced redundancy payments, holds the High Court in Lee and others v GEC Plessey Telecommunications.

• Date:

  15 February 1993

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Judicial review: Pit closures without use of review procedure were unlawful

  British Coal had a statutory obligation to use a review procedure agreed with the trade unions in relation to proposed pit closures, holds the High Court in R v British Coal Corporation and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry ex parte Vardy and others.

• Date:

  1 June 1992

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  De Grasse v Stockwell Tools Ltd

  In De Grasse v Stockwell Tools Ltd [1992] IRLR 269 EAT, the EAT held that the Industrial Tribunal had erred in holding that the appellant employee's dismissal on grounds of redundancy was fair, notwithstanding that there had been no prior consultation or warning.

• Date:

  14 April 1992

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Allsop v North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council

  In Allsop v North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council [1992] 90 LGR 462 CA, the Court of Appeal held that payments made to employees by a local authority as compensation for redundancy under a voluntary severance scheme were unlawful as they exceeded the prescribed limits.

• Date:

  5 October 1990

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Redundancy: Unfair redundancy dismissals - time limits and compensation

  An industrial tribunal was entitled to exercise its discretion to extend the time limit for unfair dismissal applications from redundant employees, who mistakenly believed that work would "pick up"; and they would be re-employed, until two weeks after the employer's business closed down.

• Date:

  1 May 1990

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Prestwick Circuits Ltd v McAndrew

  In Prestwick Circuits Ltd v McAndrew [1990] IRLR 191 CS, the Court of Session held that the implied right to order a transfer from one place of employment to another must be subject to the implied qualification that reasonable notice must be given in all the circumstances of the case.

• Date:

  21 November 1989

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Unfair dismissal: No reference to governors on college redundancies

  It was not unfair for a local education authority to dismiss three lecturers for redundancy without reference to their college's governors, even though their lecturers' contracts of employment contemplated that the governors would decide whether to dismiss.