HR Articles

The government has announced a new law, effective from 31 July 2020 introducing changes regarding payments on termination of employment to employees who are, or have been, furloughed.

As the furlough scheme starts to be phased out from the end of this week, the ongoing economic Covid-19 related downturn means that increasing numbers of businesses are having to announce redundancies.

The government guidance on furlough and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) makes clear that employees can be made redundant whilst on furlough and that normal redundancy rules and rights apply to furloughed employees.

The former employees are claiming Thomas Cook failed to consult or inform them about their impending redundancy. Employers are obliged to consult on a collective basis if they proposing to make 20+ employees at one establishment redundant within a period of 90 days.

In Uradar v Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, the Claimant was made redundant and had a contractual redundancy entitlement of £43,949.04. The Trust refused to pay, claiming she had turned down suitable alternative employment.

The EAT have held that in a redundancy situation there is no requirement for an employee to raise the issue of bumping in order for the employer to have to consider it.

The EAT has determined in Seahorse Maritime v Nautilus International that the duty to collectively consult in a redundancy situation can extend to employees working outside of the UK, but cautioned each case will depend on its own facts.

Green v London Borough of Barking & Dagenham

The EAT held in Dunne v Colin & Avril Ltd that a book-keeper who declined an offer of suitable employment did so reasonably despite her reliance on health reasons not raised until after her dismissal.

In Thomas v BNP Paribas Real Estate, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that a Tribunal’s finding that a redundancy process was ‘insensitive and perfunctory’ did not easily sit with its ultimate decision that the process was reasonable and the dismissal fair.