HAS THERE BEEN A CHANGE IN THE SELECTION CRITERIA FOR REDUNDANCY?
Normally employers have been required to use "objective" selection criteria to ascertain which employees are selected for redundancy. This involved a selection criteria where scores or assessments were made against all the employees that potentially were subject to redundancy in order to select which employees were made redundant. However, in a recent judgement by Lord Neuberger (the country's most senior judge) this position may have changed.
Lord Neuberger sitting in the Employment Appeal Tribunal decided in the case of Mitchells of Lancaster (Brewers) -v- Tattersall [2012] UKEAT/0605/11 that a "subjective criteria" could be used in certain circumstances.
In this particular case, the decision related to a relatively small company in serious financial difficulties, where the board decided to make one redundancy out of 5 people in its management team. It was decided the selection criteria would be "whose post could be abolished with the minimum detrimental impact on the business". Clearly this is a subjective view that the directors would have to take rather than the traditional objective method where a scoring system based on a matrix or assessment is used. Lord Neuberger stated, "It is hard to see how it can be inappropriate for a relatively small company in serious financial difficulties.... to apply this criteria...".
Only time will tell how this decision will be applied in due course, but it appears that a change in approach has occurred.
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