Redundancy Legal Advice for Employers

For any employer, the process of redundancy cannot be undertaken lightly and must be conducted by individuals with a robust knowledge of Irish employment law. 

Redundancy requires a stepwise approach, during which employers must carefully guide staff who are at risk of redundancy through each stage.

It is important that employers considering redundancy understand that it is not the person being made redundant, it is their role, and likewise, the reason for doing so must be on the basis of change within the business or organisation; not due to the employee themselves.

Lavelle Partners have been providing comprehensive redundancy advice for employers, including small business redundancy and corporate redundancy, for over 30 years.  By engaging our services, you will benefit from the latest understanding of Irish redundancy law and best practice, ensuring your business is protected from claims of unfair dismissal and/or reputational damage.

What is redundancy?

The Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2003 outlines the contexts which legally constitute redundancy for employers:

• The business ceases to trade
• Business requirements have changed which mean a role is no longer needed
• The business requires less staff
• Work will be undertaken in a different way for which the employee does not possess the requisite skills, qualifications, or training
• A role will be undertaken by another member of staff because it requires more skills, training, or qualifications

Dismissal of staff for other reasons may be deemed unfair under the Unfair Dismissals (Amendment) Act, 1993.

What is collective redundancy?

Under the Protection of Employment Order 1996, collective redundancy is applicable whereby a large number of individuals are being made redundant.  This number, however, depends on the scale of your business, as follows:

• At least 5 in an establishment normally employing more than 20 and less than 50 employees,
• At least 10 in an establishment normally employing at least 50 but less than 100 employees,
• At least ten per cent of the number of employees in an establishment normally employing at least 100 but less than 300 employees, and
• At least 30 in an establishment normally employing 300 or more employees.

Due to the quantity of staff being considered for redundancy, it is more typical for the employer to engage with a representative on their behalf, on matters including:

• The number of proposed redundancies
• Why redundancies are being considered
• Timescales
• What is being done to avoid redundancies
• The selection criteria for redundancies, and;
• How redundancy pay will be calculated.

Under the law, the employer must also inform the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment of the intention to undertake a process of collective redundancy – at least 30 days prior to notifying employees, or face prosecution.

Will all employees being made redundant receive severance pay?

According to the Redundancy Payments act 1967, redundancy pay will need to be provided to staff with at least 2 years of continuous employment. However, in some cases of extended absence, the continuous service period will be reduced; see our severance pay page for more details.

How Lavelle Partners redundancy Solicitors can assist you

• Our team of severance employment law Solicitors, headed by Senior Partner, Marc Fitzgibbon, has been assisting employers for over 30 years in relation to redundancy and collective redundancy, and as a result, has developed a strong and enviable reputation nationally for achieving excellence in this area of law.
• Marc is a former member of the Law Society of Ireland’s Employment & Equality Law Committee and European Employment Lawyers Association.
• We understand the need to ensure redundancy is carried out in full accordance with employment legislation and best practice, thereby protecting your business or organisation from the threat of a claim or reputational damage.
• Our Solicitors will work alongside your in-house or external HR team, ensuring that the redundancy process is handled efficiently and with the minimum of demands on your resources.
• You can be assured the redundancy process will be handled with the utmost of professionalism and confidentiality.

Our partnership with Talbot Pierce

Lavelle Partners work with Talbot Pierce to provide a seamless service in respect of Human Resource Management.  Talbot Pierce are a team of specialist HR professionals who work with us on a range of matters including advice on and delivery of conflict/dispute resolution solutions, best-practice HR strategies, policies and procedures.

If you are an employer based in Ireland and require guidance on redundancy or collective redundancy, please contact Lavelle Partners in confidence on (01) 644 5800*.

*Please note that fees apply to all consultations and advice cannot be given free of charge.