Voluntary Redundancy and Selection Criteria

acurrie1000

Hi, long story short, found out two weeks ago 4 of our team of 8 were being made redundant. All 8 of us applied for VER to safeguard potential for statutory package. Who should get the 4 remaining jobs  was decided on by one senor manager, with no selection interviews and based on his 'desktop analysis' which none of us have sight of, without any indication of what that entailed. Just looking for guidance regards if this seems the right way to do things? thanks

sharpe106

As long as there is some process of how it was done then it is fine, they do not have to show you. You would have thought generally there is selection interview etc but lets be honest the manager knows which 4 they want to keep before they even start. So unless somebody has been discriminated agasint because of a protected characteristic not to much you can do. 

lincroft1710

Do remember that "voluntary redundancy" has no meaning in employment law. 

dd95

acurrie1000 said:

Hi, long story short, found out two weeks ago 4 of our team of 8 were being made redundant. All 8 of us applied for VER to safeguard potential for statutory package. Who should get the 4 remaining jobs  was decided on by one senor manager, with no selection interviews and based on his 'desktop analysis' which none of us have sight of, without any indication of what that entailed. Just looking for guidance regards if this seems the right way to do things? thanks

there needs to be a fair and objective criteria in which all those at risk are marked against. The employer should explain this criteria to you and ask for your comments. A redundancy situation where a lack of due procedure has been followed is grounds for unfair dismissal.sharpe106 said:

As long as there is some process of how it was done then it is fine, they do not have to show you. You would have thought generally there is selection interview etc but lets be honest the manager knows which 4 they want to keep before they even start. So unless somebody has been discriminated agasint because of a protected characteristic not to much you can do. 

'the manager knows which four they want to keep' - this is dangerous advice - a fair and proper procedure has to be followed, otherwise they are leaving themselves open to unfair dismissal claims. 

also re. the protected characteristic analysis, whilst this is correct, this is in addition to the requirement that a fair procedure has to be followed.

your employer also has to offer you suitable alternative employment (if that exists) - it would be worth asking your employer about this, but note that no new roles have to be made