Redundancy consultation and selection in Northern Ireland

When an employer in Northern Ireland plans 20 or more redundancies at one establishment within 90 days, it must consult your trade union or elected employee representatives before anyone is given notice. Below that number you are still entitled to be spoken to individually, to fair selection and to an offer of suitable alternative work if there is one. This guide covers those steps. The payment you get at the end is in statutory redundancy pay in Northern Ireland.

Collective consultation

The 20 in 90 rule counts redundancies at a single establishment. Consultation has to start at least 30 days before the first dismissal takes effect, or at least 90 days before if more than 100 employees are affected. It has to happen before notices go out.

If a trade union is recognised, the employer consults the union. Without one, it consults elected representatives. The talks should cover ways to avoid redundancy, how to keep the number of dismissals down and how to reduce the effect on the people affected, for example through retraining. nidirect also lists alternative work patterns and job shares. Consultation carries on until the issues have been aired and both sides have had a reasonable amount of time to comment. Keeping signed copies of meeting minutes is good practice. See the trade unions guide for how recognition works in public bodies.

nidirect notes that the meaning of redundancy here differs slightly from the one used for statutory redundancy pay.

If the employer skips it

You or your representative can take the employer to an Industrial Tribunal for a protective award. The most it can be is 90 days’ pay for each affected employee. The tribunal sets the length of the protected period, and you get your normal week’s pay for each week of it.

You do not get paid for weeks in which you are on strike, absent without good reason, or on unpaid leave you asked for. Holiday, sickness, pregnancy, adoption, parental or paternity leave, and periods when the employer has no work for you, still count. You lose the entitlement if you are fairly dismissed for a reason other than redundancy or give up the job without good reason.

Individual consultation

nidirect gives no numbers or time limits for individual consultation. It normally means the employer speaking to you directly about why you were selected and what alternatives exist. If that does not happen, the dismissal may be unfair.

How people are selected

Selection should be fair, objective and based on evidence. If it agreed a method with a trade union, it should follow it. Common methods include last in first out, volunteers, disciplinary records and appraisal scores covering skills, qualifications and experience. An employer can combine criteria in a points system or ask staff to reapply for their own jobs. Being unsuccessful, or not volunteering, does not end your job. That happens only when you are actually made redundant.

Some reasons for selection are always unfair:

• discrimination, direct (for example, selecting someone because they are on maternity leave) or indirect (for example, selecting part-timers when most of them are women)
• trade union membership or non-membership
• exercising a statutory right, or whistleblowing
• taking action on health and safety grounds, or doing jury service
• being a pension scheme trustee
• lawful industrial action lasting 12 weeks or less

If you think you were selected unfairly, appeal in writing and say what you want the employer to do. An unfair selection reason can support an unfair dismissal claim, covered in unfair dismissal in Northern Ireland.

Alternative work and the trial period

Your employer is expected to look for a suitable alternative job inside the organisation or an associated company. Whether a job is suitable depends on its terms, your skills and circumstances, and the pay, status, hours and location. You are entitled to a four-week trial, extendable in writing for training. Give notice during the trial and your statutory redundancy pay is protected. Reach the end without giving notice and it is lost. Unreasonably turning down a suitable job can also lose you the payment.

Notice and time off

The statutory minimum notice is one week for service between one month and two years, then one week for each year from two to 12 years, and 12 weeks at 12 years or more. Your contract may give more. There is more detail in notice periods in Northern Ireland.

With two years’ continuous service by the end of your notice, you can take reasonable time off to look for work or arrange training. No hours are fixed, and the employer only has to pay up to 40 per cent of a week’s pay in total. nidirect’s example is a five-day week where you take four days off, and the employer pays for the first two.

If you find a job that starts before your notice ends, ask to leave early. If the employer refuses, you can send a written counter notice stating your preferred leaving date. Leaving without permission risks some or all of your redundancy pay.

What to check

• The headcount and time frame your employer has used for the proposal.
• Who is being consulted and whether minutes are kept.
• The selection criteria, in writing, and how you were scored.
• Any alternative vacancies, and the trial period terms.

The Labour Relations Agency and Advice NI give free advice, and your union can speak for you in consultation.