The start of the 2015 calendar year has seen an increased need for legal advice regarding:
- redundancies, particularly for businesses servicing the CSG industry; and
- slow paying debtors, payment claims & debt recovery.
Redundancy
Due to operational requirements, several employers have been making some positions redundant.
With a redundancy, an employer needs to ensure it is a “genuine redundancy”.
A genuine redundancy occurs when an employer no longer requires a certain job to be performed by anyone because of a change to the employer’s operational requirements. It also requires an employer to comply with the consultation obligations in an applicable award or enterprise agreement.
Before making the decision to make a position redundant, an employer needs to consider any opportunity for redeployment within the business or an associated entity of the business.
It is dangerous for an employer to use a redundancy process to replace a worker with another worker. If an employee’s termination is not a genuine redundancy, their employer will be exposed to a number of potential claims.
Before making a position redundant, we recommend employers carefully consider their legal obligations and consult in the manner required at law.
The process of consultation is very particular and involves, among other things:
- exploring alternative options;
- exploring the reasons for making a position redundant;
- appropriately consulting with the affected employee(s) and their representative(s);
- providing certain information in writing;
- fairly selecting a position to be made redundant;
- supporting the affected employee(s);
- correctly calculating and paying any redundancy pay (if applicable);
- correctly calculating and making other final payments; and
- notifying the appropriate persons.
