Questions about redundancy notice
Many questions arise when an employee has been told that they are being made redundant – such as notice period, garden leave, holidays during notice and ‘I now have a job – will this affect my redundancy pay?’ It is useful for employers to have a response prepared in readiness of such questions.
To many employees, redundancy is linked to payment. However, to be eligible for redundancy pay, the employee must have been in service for two years.
When does notice period start? This starts when the employee has been notified of redundancy. The employer must then decide should their staff work their notice, be put on garden leave or be paid in lieu of notice.
Redundancy Notice Period
The duration of notice period is stated in their contract of employment – this could be contractual (longer notice period) or statutory - one week for every year of service up to a maximum of 12 weeks.
The employer may wish the employee to take garden leave during their notice period, meaning not to come into work but to be available when required. There must be a contractual right to apply this.
But what if the employee has found a job during notice period? Would the employee still get redundancy pay? If an employee has over two years service and resigns during notice period the employee may forfeit their redundancy payment; this will be determined by when they want to leave their employment. This area of law is complicated and therefore it is best to seek advice.
Employees may have annual leave owing to them. The employee can either take the remainder holiday during their notice period or the employer can decide when to take annual leave as long as twice as much notice is given as per working time regulation guidelines. Any further outstanding holidays can be paid in lieu after the termination date.
As redundancy is a formal termination process, it is wise to have a paper trail throughout the meaningful consultation process. It is important to ensure that employees who are made redundant are issued a redundancy dismissal letter summarising the consultation process, the redundancy date, duration of notice period, any final payments (redundancy payment if applicable, outstanding annual leave owing) and the right of appeal.
Please contact the employment advice line for further information. If you would like to become a client or require further support, please contact us.
