Collective redundancies: difficult questions Abigail Maino, Greg Burgess and Will Walsh WWW.DMHSTALLARD.COM
When is it necessary to collectively consult? A proposal to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees within a 90 day period ‘Redundancy’ has a wider meaning and includes • T raditional redundancies • Changing terms of employment 90 day period - what about rolling redundancies? WWW.DMHSTALLARD.COM
Need to collectively consult Are you planning on making multiple redundancies over the next 3 months? Poll WWW.DMHSTALLARD.COM
What does collective consultation involve? Identifying affected employees Identifying appropriate representatives Providing certain information to the representatives Consulting on the proposed redundancies “with a view to reaching agreement” on certain matters Submitting HR1 to BEIS WWW.DMHSTALLARD.COM
When should we start collective consultation? When is there a ‘proposal to dismiss’ which triggers a duty to collectively consult? Can we argue that the current pandemic removes the need to collectively consult? WWW.DMHSTALLARD.COM
What if we have more than one site? Do the dismissals have to be at one establishment? What is an “establishment”? If we have a group of employees who work from home permanently, what is their establishment? WWW.DMHSTALLARD.COM
Length of collective consultation Does the collective consultation need to last for 30/45 days? Can we issue notice to staff before the end of the collective consultation period? WWW.DMHSTALLARD.COM
Questions WWW.DMHSTALLARD.COM
Furlough and a remote workforce Can we start collective consultation when some or all employees are still on furlough? Can an employee carry out duties as an employee representative while on furlough? Can managers on furlough conduct consultation meetings or give input to the process? WWW.DMHSTALLARD.COM
Practicalities of consulting How do we deal with election of employee representatives? How will we communicate with staff? How will consultation meetings be held? How will the employee representatives gather feedback? WWW.DMHSTALLARD.COM
Recap Be alive to when a proposal made has Ensure you have a sound reached a point when business case collective consultation is triggered Plan for how you will Don’t forget the communicate with staff, importance of individual how representatives will consultation to the be elected and how overall fairness of any consultations will be dismissal carried out WWW.DMHSTALLARD.COM
Questions WWW.DMHSTALLARD.COM
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