Redundancy appeal advice

[Ozgirl75]

we recently made a staff member redundant and she is appealing this on the basis that the procedure wasn’t fair and thorough. We have a meeting booked for next week and I’ve asked her to provide details of why she thinks we weren’t fair and thorough. She is refusing to put anything in writing and has said that her union rep (it’s not a work union) has advised that she doesn’t have to and she’ll just tell me in the meeting.

So, firstly, does she have to? We’ve followed the ACAS process and it seems to suggest she does. Also, can you understand why she wouldn’t want to? I don’t understand why she would NOT want to put things in writing.

thank you!

Have you spoken to an employmen laywer?

Why are you asking a question like this on an internet forum

I’m in the public sector and any appeals against dismissal (including redundancy) have to be made to a senior manager (who would be on the equivalent of the Board) and would have to be made in writing. The appeal would then be heard by a panel of trustees (and in the case of redundancy) this would be done on written grounds - so the appellant would not be there to present their case, so the panel would need their appeal in writing to consider it.
Can you speak to HR for clarification, who should then be in contact with the company’s lawyers.

We are a small business of 2 directors (me and my husband), and 6 employees. We don’t have an HR dept and we’ve never had anyone appeal against redundancy before as we carefully follow the ACAS guidelines, all run past our employment lawyer first.

I don’t really understand why she’s even appealing as there is no way she can be reinstated and the process was totally thorough and documented. But now she’s saying she won’t put anything in writing in advance of the appeal hearing.

I can’t understand why a union rep would advise her not to put her appeal in writing, it seems such an obvious thing to do, and ACAS says she should.

She doesn’t need to. How many folks have you made redundant then and at what point in their service are you doing it? After how many years?

I don’t really understand why she’s even appealing as there is no way she can be reinstated and the process was totally thorough and documented

because if it was unfair, didn’t follow all steps, and isn’t fully documented, you will need to compensate her.

you will need to show you followed all requirements. From selection, to the pool,of staff in the process, to alternate roles investigation.

Do you know why she wouldn’t want to? It feels like she’s being deliberately difficult. Why would you organise an appeal and then not explain why?

We’ve already shown her all this information in the redundancy process! We’ve been so transparent about it.

I am being a little quiet about some of the details as I don’t want it to be outing, but she wouldn’t be entitled to any money even if the process wasn’t fair (which it was), due to length of service.

Even if she can evidence having a protected characteristic? You did consider that?

She does - we did and made reasonable adjustments throughout her employment and she hasn’t mentioned that again.

I’m mostly interested in why a union rep would advise her not to put her submissions in writing. I’m confident about our process but I don’t know if I’m missing something.

So are you saying she was made redundant although not technically there long enough to qualify for redundancy?

Did you keep on somebody who doesn't have a protected characteristic?

It's a perfectly reasonable thing for her to do. It's her legal right to appeal - to react to it as saying 'she's just trying to be difficult' isn't appropriate for somebody exercising their legal rights. And in times when being made redundant before two years is frequently misused to get rid of pesky disabled/pregnant/other employees, it's an essential right.

Basically yes. We like her and the role was being made redundant due to various reasons that I won’t go into here but are air tight good reasons.
So we thought that rather than just going “see ya”, and handing her her notice, we would use the redundancy process to be fair and reasonable and also to show her clearly that it wasn’t due to her position under the equality act.

I wish now that we had just terminated the employment but here we are.

No one here can answer your question, nor is it going to help if people keep guessing why she might not want to share the details. If you have used the services of an employment lawyer in the past then this is the time to get him or her involved again.

It’s not the appeal - it’s the not putting it in writing that I don’t understand.

She was the only person doing that particular role and we are outsourcing the role as the need for it has significantly declined following a change in the business.

I suspect she doesn't want to put it in writing as she is going to try to come to an agreement that you pay something and then she won't pursue a claim for unfair dismissal by reason of redundancy due to disability discrimination. I suspect she is testing the water first to see what you say so be careful what you do say.

Everyone has protected characteristics so not sure what you’re talking about

OP I would invest in an employment lawyer, for this particular case and then to help devise a redundancy and appeal policy so you know how to manage future appeals.

Could you have the employment lawyer there too, or at least on a team calls for the meeting?

Yes I did wonder that, but she’s never mentioned any desire for payment (surprisingly) even at the meetings we’ve had with her before.

Yes I think I will. He’s the one who’s checked all the processes and letters we’ve sent so he should be happy to.

I agree you need to get legal advice about this.

You need to 'get all your ducks in a row' and follow the correct procedure otherwise she could take you to the proverbial cleaners.

At the meeting ask for her reasons.

Write them down.

Say thank you for coming and we’ll meet again on x date to continue the conversation.