• Employment Tribunal
• Employment Rights Act 1996
• Employment Appeal Tribunal

• Employment Solicitors
• Employment Law
• Redundancy
• Unfair Dismissal
• Constructive Dismissal
• Age Discrimination
• Sex Discrimination
• Race Discrimination
• Sexual Harassment
• Racial Harassment
• Disability Discrimination
• Workplace Bullying

Our litigation solicitors are experienced in all matters involving employment law, including helping employees to make accurate redundancy pay calculations. Our employment solicitors will either begin negotiations on your behalf concerning possible compensation or, when necessary will make applications for dispute resolution on the amount of redundancy payment to the Employment Tribunal.

You are entitled to redundancy pay if your employment is terminated due to the firm closing down or if a substantial reduction in available work means that your services are no longer required provided that you have worked for that firm for at least two years. If your employment is terminated for any other reason, after the relevant minimum period of employment, then you will generally have a viable solicitors claim for unfair dismissal where in many instances damages are unlimited. Your employer should give you proper notice of redundancy or pay in lieu of notice and must follow agreed protocols on selection etc.

In order to claim a redundancy payment certain criteria must be met. An employee must have been dismissed due to the whole business closing down or there must no need for workers in the employee's particular field. Additionally, in order to claim the employee must have been in continual employment with the business for at least two years up until the date when their employment was terminated.

Payment Calculation

Although many employers will pay more on a voluntary basis the maximum statutory redundancy payment is capped and this is calculated using a nominal maximum nominal weekly pay figure (a lesser figure if the actual weekly pay was less) using the following formula :-

• the maximum number of years which may be counted is 20
• half a week's pay for each year over 18, but under 22
• one week's pay for each year in which they were over 22, but under 41
• one and a half week's pay for each year in which the employee was over 41 years of age

Employment Tribunal

If there is a dispute regarding the amount of the compensation for a redundancy payment then a redundancy solicitor cam make application for rectification which must be submitted to an Employment Tribunal within 6 months of the date of termination of the employment and thereafter the employers are expected to provide detailed written calculations showing how the redundancy payment was assessed.

Alternative Employment

If an offer of alternative employment is refused with no reasonable grounds, no redundancy payment claim can be made. If a refusal was reasonably made after consideration of personal circumstances which include health and family commitments then a claim can still be made. The employee has a period of 4 weeks trial in an alternative job, if he so desires, during which time the employee can assess their new position and if it becomes clear that their new job is unsuitable they can terminate the employment themselves and still make a claim.

Sham Redundancy & Unfair Dismissal

On some occasions the redundancy is false or fake and is a sham used by an employer as an excuse to dismiss an employee when there are no reasonable grounds for dismissal on the basis that compensation for an unfair dismissal would be considerably higher than the statutory payment for redundancy. In such cases a claim can be made to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal. In these cases the compensation that can be awarded is often significantly higher than the statutory redundancy payment outlined above.

Settlement Agreement

Following the termination of employment companies often request their former employee to sign a 'settlement agreement' to finalise all issues. It is a legal requirement that an employee receives qualified legal advice from a solicitor or a registered trade union official before signing a settlement agreement and most employers will pay most or all legal costs to facilitate this advice.

Redundancy Solicitors

Our specialist solicitors provide qualified legal advice on redundancy payment law (including 'sham' redundancy) and on all other matters that are related to employment disputes in the United Kingdom. Specialist lawyers offer free advice on redundancy payment law without obligation - just call the helpline or complete the contact form or email our offices and an employment law solicitor will be pleased to assist you with no further obligation.