Collective Redundancies
Printed from www.survivingredundancy.ie Copyright © 2012
Disclaimer
This is an introduction only to the legal issues involved. If you are dismissing people for redundancy or for any other reason, you should take professional legal advice.
Collective Redundancies are covered by the Protection of Employment Act 1977
Collective redundancies arise where, during any period of 30 consecutive days, a certain number of employees in a particular establishment is being made redundant:
|
Normal size of workforce |
Number being made redundant |
|
21 -49 |
5 |
|
50 - 99 |
10 |
|
100 - 299 |
10% |
|
300 + |
30 |
Particular establishment
If you have 100 employees in the company distributed over 10 shops and you close one shop employing 10 people, the normal size of the workforce in that establishment is 10, so it is not a collective redundancy.
Normal size of workforce
The normal size of the workforce is the average employed over the 12 months preceding the date of the dismissal.
The period of 30 days
This 30 days refer to the date that the notice takes effect, not the date on which notice is given. Not requiring an employee to work out their notice period has no relevance to this calculation.
You can make up to 4 people redundant in any 30 day period, without it being a collective redundancy. So if you let 4 people go on 31 May and 4 more go on 1 July, it is not a collective redundancy.
What is counted as a redundancy?
An employee with less than one year's service being let go.
An employee being made redundant before a fixed-term contract is due to expire.
What is not counted?
An employee leaving on completion of a fixed-term contract
Dismissal for reasons other than redundancy
A person voluntarily leaving who is not being made redundant
You must consult with the representatives of your employees
- The reasons for the redundancy
- The number and descriptions of the employees affected
- The number and descriptions of employees normally employed
- The period in which the redundancies will happen
- The criteria for selection of employees for redundancy
- The method of calculating any "ex-gratia" redundancy payment.
You must also notify the Minister
- name and address of the employer
- address of the establishment where the collective redundancies are proposed;
- total number of persons normally employed at the establishment;
- number and description or categories of employees whom it is proposed to make redundant;
- period during which the collective redundancies are proposed to be effected;
- reasons for the proposed redundancies;
- names and addresses of the employees' representatives consulted about the proposed redundancies;
- date on which those consultations commenced and the progress achieved to date of notification.
Time line
You must enter into discussions with employees' representatives 30 days before the first notice of redundancy is given
You must notify the minister at least 30 days before the redundancies take effect.
Day 1 - Begin consultations with staff representatives.
Day 30 - Give 14 days notice of redundancy to employees
Day 44 - Make employees redundant
Day 14 - would be the latest day for notifying the minister of the proposed redundancies.
It is better to have a planned process whereby you give the employees plenty of notice of redundancy. So start the discussion very early on.
Avoiding the obligations of Collective Redundancies
You can avoid the requirements of Collective Redundancies by staggering the dates of redundancies. So if employ 40 people and you are making 8 people redundant, you can make 4 people redundant on one date and the rest more than 30 days later.
But it's good practice anyway, to start consulting with staff at the earliest possible opportunity. So if redundancies look inevitable, even if you don't know how many and when, you should begin consultations with staff.
