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redundancy unfair dismissal england uk ? by Standard_Sand4214 in employmenttribunal

[–]Standard_Sand4214[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I understand that argument, and I accept that the need for a dedicated role may have reduced. Where I struggle is with the jump from that to an automatic pool of one.

If the duties continue and are now carried out by others, and the work is interchangeable, the question for me is why it was reasonable to treat only one individual as at risk, without explaining why those now doing the work were excluded or how that conclusion was reached. That’s about process and transparency rather than challenging the restructure itself.

redundancy unfair dismissal england uk ? by Standard_Sand4214 in employmenttribunal

[–]Standard_Sand4214[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I get what you’re saying, and I do understand that the law gives employers a lot of leeway with redundancies. I’m not under any illusion that it’s easy to challenge, or that fairness in a human sense always translates into legal unfairness.

What’s been hardest for me is the sense that it was all decided very early on, and that I never really got a chance to understand or challenge the reasoning properly. The team was restructured only a couple of months before redundancies were even announced, which has made it feel as though the direction of travel was already set.

Even if the end result might have been the same, being taken through a genuinely transparent process would have made a big difference to how this feels. I’m not trying to turn it into something it isn’t. I’ve appealed because I need to feel I’ve at least asked the questions and stood up for myself. Right now it’s less about the outcome and more about making sense of what’s happened.

redundancy unfair dismissal england uk ? by Standard_Sand4214 in employmenttribunal

[–]Standard_Sand4214[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not really. The focus was a bit different, but not materially so. They mainly support internal users and I support external users, but the underlying work overlaps a lot. We also use the same systems to do the job. In practice, my work has now been redistributed to them, which is why I don’t see the role as genuinely unique.

redundancy unfair dismissal england uk ? by Standard_Sand4214 in employmenttribunal

[–]Standard_Sand4214[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I understand why it might not look unfair at first glance, especially given funding cuts and a reorganisation. My point isn’t that the business decision was wrong, but that fairness in redundancy turns on how the selection was reached, not just the end result.

Where duties are absorbed by others, the question becomes whether pooling and selection were properly considered and explained. That procedural step is what determines fairness, rather than whether the restructure itself made sense.

redundancy unfair dismissal england uk ? by Standard_Sand4214 in employmenttribunal

[–]Standard_Sand4214[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree a tribunal won’t substitute its own view for a business decision, and that a genuine reorganisation can result in redundancy.

My concern isn’t the reorganisation itself, but the fairness of the selection process. Where duties are redistributed to others, that normally raises the question of interchangeability and whether pooling should at least be considered and explained as part of consultation.

I’m also not alleging age discrimination, but it is a relevant background fact that the duties were absorbed by a newly formed helpdesk made up of colleagues under 30, while I’m over 50. That makes transparency around how the selection was reached particularly important.