This is often a live issue in redundancy situations. At the moment, with the number of redundancies rocketing skywards, it is a question that is being put to me time and again. Quite often the employer’s rationale for placing a person “at risk” of redundancy can look shaky.
The definition of redundancy is found at s.139 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It is defined thus;
(1) For the purposes of this Act an employee who is dismissed shall be taken to be dismissed by reason of redundancy if the dismissal is wholly or mainly attributable to—