It was my understanding that the statutory dismissal procedures do not apply when the employer is offering a new contract – Art 4(1)(a) of the Employment (NI) Order 2003 (Dispute Resolution) Regs. Could you clarify?

In February’s FT, you may recall our response to a query on reducing an employee’s salary. One of the methods set out for bringing about the reduction (although admittedly not the preferred one) includes terminating the employee’s current contract and offering the new terms whilst ensuring a fair procedure is followed (including the statutory procedure). Whilst I agree that regulation 4(1)(a) of the 2004 Regulations does specifically state that the statutory dismissal procedures do not apply when the employer is offering a new contract, this exception only applies where “all the employees of a description or in a category to which the employee belongs are dismissed”… and re-engaged.