Employee awarded $19,000 after unfair redundancy process carried out…

An employee has been awarded $19,000 after her employer failed to carry out a fair redundancy process. The Employment Relations Authority found the employer did not act in a manner that was genuine or procedurally fair. 

After entering into a fixed term contract with the employer, the employee was soon told her services were no longer required due to the work becoming quiet. She was to finish up immediately and paid for the next 2 weeks allowing her to find another job. 

After 2 weeks the full sum of the employee’s final pay was missing. The employer had made deductions due to previous overpayments allegedly made. 

Her pay out period of 2 weeks was also never completed. A week after the employee ended her employment a job was found to have been listed by her employer under a similar title to hers. 

As a result the employee raised a personal grievance for unlawful deductions and for unjustified dismissal. 

To assess the employee’s claim the Authority considered whether the employer’s actions were justified in either statute law or the employment contract. 

Under the employment contract redundancy was permissible if the role was no longer available, and a fair process was followed. It was evident from the job listing that her role was still available. 

Under statute a fair process requires good faith. This means that an employer acts genuinely and for valid commercial reasons. 

It was found that no genuine situation existed. The employee was misled by the reasons given to her and was unfairly targeted. 

Both good faith and procedural fairness were not adhered to by the employer. Dismissal was carried out in an unfair manner that breached the provisions of her employment agreement.

An award of $19,612 is to be paid to the employee.  

Employers need to comply with their statutory and contractual obligations. An employee must be afforded opportunity to comment on any redundancy, and work together with their employer to explore options moving forward. 

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