Being asked to cut work days - is this redundancy?

[2019change]

Are there any employment lawyers/HR people on here? I have a friend who currently works 5 days a week for an employer she has worked for for nearly 10 years. It is a very small company where everyone has distinct roles - she is a skilled craftsperson. Her employer is going through hard times and asking staff to go part time, she is being asked to go from 5 days a week to 2 days a week as there has been much less call for what she does.

Is this redundancy? Can you be made "partly redundant" (ie the 3 days she is now being told she does not work)? What are her rights? It is not a case that someone else will do her job in the 3 days she is not employed it is just that there is not enough work for her to employed full time. There is no chance of her being offered a different job for these 3 days as (1) she only wants to do her skilled craftsperson role and (2) all other roles are already filled.

I should add that the employer is tryng to help her find additional similar employment with other unrelated companies that he knows in their business world that might need her skills so he is not being unhelpful I just wanted to know what rights she has. Thank you.

Yes, this is a redundancy situation. If she doesn’t want the two day per week role then she needs to be very clear about that. If she accepts it then she may lose her redundancy pay entitlement.

Redundancy is statutorily a diminished requirement for employees to do the work they are employed to do - and a drop from five to two days falls squarely into that.

If they insist on breaching her contract then she can sue them for a redundancy payment, notice and potentially loss of earnings as well.

How many do her exact role in her workplace at the same hours?

None do her exact role in the workplace at the same hours. As I explained above it is just her doing this role - she works 5 days a week but they now want to drop to 2 - there is not enough work coming in for her to do.

MrsPinkCock please can you explain how this is redundancy when they still want her to work part time - what is she then entited to - redundancy as if she had lost her entire job - as she has n't? Is she entitled to 3/5's of her working week (as per the days they want her to drop) or 5/5 ths ( ie all her role)? I cannot find anything on the internet about this situation.

How then does an employer ever vary employment terms? If it is always a reduction in hours say a shop worker that normally works 30 hours a week being dropped to say 27 hours a week surely that does not equal a redundancy? Otherwise there could never be variation in contract terms.

In my friend's case if there so no such thing as a "part redundancy" and he has to pay her as if he has totally made her redundant then no doubt the employer will make her entirely redundant and she will lose her entire job whereas currently she says he is trying to keep her on if that makes sense? I am not sure what protection there is for the employee in a case like this if there is no middle position as ultimately I suspect in most cases they will lose their job entirely? Thanks.

They are making the ft role redundant. She gets first refusal at the 2day week role.

I'm afraid it's not redundancy. It's a change to her terms and conditions

They have to follow a consultation process with her.

Worst case scenario if she doesn't agree to the change they can dismiss her and then offer to rehire her on the new terms.

Best thing to do is for your friend to give the acas helpline a call tomorrow. They will be able to advise your friend on the best steps to take.

Not an employment lawyer - for many another consideration would be any workplace pension she might have. Some have final salary linked pensions - there may be knock in effects there. etc. This may not be relevant in her situation obvs.

Hi again OP,

It is a redundancy situation in law, however the employer chooses to spin it.

If there is a reduced need for employees to do work of a particular kind, a redundancy situation arises. It isn’t simply a case of changing terms and conditions and as mentioned above, if they try that, your friend can treat herself as dismissed and sue for redundancy pay.

There isn’t such a thing as a part redundancy - either the role is redundant or it isn’t. The full time role is redundant (legally speaking) and the employer has effectively created a new, two day per week role. If she accepts the role, this will mean she hasn’t been dismissed as redundant as she has voluntarily accepted an alternative. No redundancy pay is payable if she accepts the alternative, however unsuitable it is.

The correct procedure to follow is a redundancy consultation process with the possibility of dismissal if she does not want the two day role. As this is seriously unlikely to amount to suitable alternative employment due to the drop in pay alone, she would be entitled to reject it and retain her entitlement to notice, and redundancy pay.

If they simply decide to impose the change on her then that becomes slightly more complex. She may need to resign to bring a claim, or she may be able to treat herself as dismissed from the original contract and be able to claim unfair dismissal... but it’s a bit too complex and technical to go into every possibility.

Bottom line - her role appears to be redundant. They need to consult over that. They can’t lawfully impose the drop in hours unless she consents.