Is an employee that rejects an offer of suitable alternative employment entitled to notice pay in a redundancy scenario?
Posted in : First Tuesday Q&A NI on 2 June 2020 Issues covered: Contracts of Employment; Redundancy; Pay and Conditions of Employment; Notice Pay; Refusal of Alternative EmploymentIf an employee unreasonably refuses suitable alternative employment in a redundancy scenario, they are treated as dismissed. This means that an employee could lose their right to a statutory redundancy payment (provided that they were otherwise eligible e.g. two years continuous service). However, the employee will still be entitled to receive notice in the usual way or a payment in lieu of notice if permitted by their contract.
Notice of termination should be clear and unambiguous and the fact that an employee rejects suitable alternative employment does not necessarily amount to a resignation. In any event, even if the employee had resigned, they would still be entitled to notice pay (or perhaps a payment in lieu of notice).
More on Redundancy
- Using Settlement Agreements to Prevent Future Claims: A Thing of the Past?
- A Staff Member is on Maternity and Redundancies are Being Proposed- How do I Handle it?
- 2023 Recession & the Impact on HR Activities
- Government Backs New Laws on Carers, Sexual Harassment, Flexible Working, Redundancy Protection and More: The Employment Bill by the Back Door?
- Bathgate v Technip UK Ltd [2022]
Disclaimer:
The information in this article is provided as part of Legal-Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article.