A company that issues notices of redundancy to individual employees before it has completed its collective consultation obligations with the affected employees’ trade union or elected representatives is at risk of having a substantial protective award made against it. Additionally, there is a risk that the resulting dismissals would be found unfair.
Employers can, however, expedite the redundancy process by completing the consultation process and then making a payment in lieu to employees rather than requiring them to work out their notice period. Specific advice should be sought on whether this is an appropriate course of action as the tax position and the enforceability of restrictive covenants may be affected.
An employer carrying out collective redundancies must send the HR1 form to the DTI before serving notice of dismissal on employees.