What to Do If You Are Made Redundant

Redundancy is a dismissal because the job itself is no longer needed, not because of anything you did. That difference shapes the process an employer has to follow and the payments you may be owed. The rules and the names of those payments vary by country, so treat this as a map rather than a set of figures, and check your position with a union representative or an employment adviser.

What redundancy is and is not

A genuine redundancy happens when the employer needs fewer people to do a particular kind of work, closes a site, or stops a service. It is not a way to remove someone whose performance is poor or whose face no longer fits. If the reasons given do not add up, or you were selected while a near-identical role was filled the following month, that is worth challenging.

Keep a written record from the first conversation: the date, who was present, what was said, and any documents you were handed. Memory drifts, and an adviser will want dates.

You are usually entitled to be accompanied at a redundancy meeting by a colleague or a union representative, though how many people and under what conditions depends on the country and the size of the employer. Ask about that right at the start of the process, not on the morning of the meeting.

Consultation and selection pools

Where more than a small number of people are affected, most jurisdictions require a consultation period before any decision is final. A fair process usually involves meeting affected staff individually and sometimes collectively, explaining the business case, and listening to alternatives such as reduced hours, redeployment or volunteers for redundancy.

Selection is normally made from a pool using criteria that can be scored, with the scores shared with the people affected. Ask what the pool was, what the criteria were, how each one was scored and who did the scoring. If the criteria were invented halfway through, or depend on one manager's opinion, that may point to an unfair process.

Ask directly about redeployment. Employers are usually expected to look for other suitable roles in the organisation before dismissing, and a genuine search means more than a glance at the internal jobs page.

Notice, pay and other entitlements

Entitlements typically include notice or pay in lieu of it, any statutory redundancy payment based on age, length of service and weekly pay, untaken holiday, outstanding wages and any contractual bonus already earned. Some contracts add enhanced redundancy pay, and some countries require extra payments where a consultation process was skipped.

Every one of those figures depends on the country and the contract, so ask for the calculation in writing and check it line by line. A union or an employment advice service can check the numbers for you, usually free of charge. Time limits for bringing a claim are often short, measured in weeks from the date employment ends, so seek advice early rather than after the payment lands.

Check the tax treatment of each part of the payment. In many places a redundancy payment is tax free up to a limit while notice pay is taxed as ordinary wages, and the employer's breakdown may not split the two the way your tax office would.

The meeting itself

Take notes, and if you are allowed, take a colleague or a union representative with you. You are entitled to ask how many roles are affected, what the pool is, how the selection was scored, whether voluntary redundancy is on offer, what happens to your notice, and when a final decision will be made.

Do not sign anything on the spot, especially a settlement agreement or a waiver. Take it away, read it, and get advice first. Settlement offers are often negotiable, and accepting one normally means giving up the right to bring a claim, so it pays to know exactly what you would be giving up.

The weeks after

Ask for a written reference and confirm who will provide it. Return company property on the agreed date and keep the handover tidy, because the people writing your next reference are the ones watching you now.

Then take a short, defined break, even a week, before starting the search. Apply while your confidence is steady rather than at the peak of the upset. If there is a redundancy payment, put it somewhere boring and decide nothing about your career for a fortnight.

Tell a few trusted contacts what has happened, in plain terms. Redundancy is not a stain, and the people who hear it from you directly are the ones most likely to pass on a lead before it is ever advertised.