Fire and Re-hire
In late March, P&O Ferries made 800 members of staff redundant instantaneously and with no notice, to then go on to replace them with cheaper agency workers. This sparked wide range shock and triggered government interest in introducing a new statutory code of practice covering fire and rehire.
In late March, P&O Ferries made 800 members of staff redundant instantaneously and with no notice, to then go on to replace them with cheaper agency workers.
This sparked wide range shock at the very blatant disregard for the law, namely that of having a meaningful consultation, and has resulted in calls being made for P&O Ferries to repay the £11 million it received from the government during the coronavirus pandemic to furlough its staff.
Where employers are planning to make 20 or more staff redundant within any 90-day period, they must first consult staff and speak to trade union representatives. The key is that this consultation needs to be ‘meaningful’ and very much a two-way process between employer and employee. If this doesn't happen, employees are entitled to take their employer to a tribunal.
With a 103% rise in planned redundancies between January and February 2022, together with increases in interest rates, rising energy costs and the cost-of-living crisis, this should act as a cautionary tale to businesses. If employers are considering redundancy, they must ensure that they follow the collective consultation rules carefully. The government has also indicated that a new statutory code of practice covering fire and rehire will be introduced in due course. An employer who unreasonably fails to comply with the code when it is introduced would risk an uplift of up to 25% being awarded on relevant tribunal compensation.
In addition to the financial implications of ignoring the collective consultation regime, the likely media interest and ongoing reputational damage may well be an incredibly hard hurdle for businesses to get over.
Related expertise
You may be interested in...
Opinion
Mopping up after a leak – how businesses can take steps to protect their confidential information
Online Event
Wellbeing and financial considerations – practical solutions for challenging times
Press Release
Browne Jacobson collaborates with The GLAA and University of Nottingham to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking
In Person Event
Navigating your way through high profile sensitive reviews and investigations
Legal Update
Teacher strikes – lessons learnt so far
Opinion
Can toilet facilities amount to sex discrimination?
Opinion
Consultation launched on minimum ambulance service levels during strike action
Opinion - Maternity services
Changes to redundancy protections for employees post-maternity leave
Opinion
BMA issues medical locum rate card for junior doctors
Legal Update
Employee who refused to wear a face mask fairly dismissed
Opinion
New toolkit to support safer recruitment in the care sector
On-Demand
Employment update webinar
Opinion
Term-time school worker entitled to national minimum wage for unworked basic hours
Opinion
Fire and re-hire – draft statutory code
Opinion
Menopause and the workplace
Opinion
Consultation on holiday entitlement – part-year and irregular workers
Opinion
Government introduces new “anti-striking laws” to be discussed in Parliament
Opinion
Twitter facing employment claims following mass redundancies
News that Twitter is being threatened with multiple claims by UK employees following mass redundancies provides a reminder of the risks that comes with an employer implementing large scale redundancy exercises.
Legal Update
Industrial Action and Minimum Service Levels
Legal Update
Discrimination comes of age
Legal Update - Shared Insights
Shared Insights: Looking ahead to 2023 – what Health and Care employers need to know
Opinion
Rising Employment Tribunal backlog
Legal Update
Official statistics demonstrate a new wave of age discrimination claims
Opinion
Menopause and the NHS workforce addressing the female brain drain…
Opinion
4-day working week a success?
The Covid-19 pandemic drastically changed the world’s way of working, with increased flexibility being greatly desired by employees. Earlier on in the year, a number of organisations trialled the concept of a 4-day working week – which has clearly been a success for many.Legal Update
Coming of age
Official statistics show that 15,336 claims which included a complaint of age discrimination were received at the Employment Tribunals between March 2020 and March 2021.
Published Article
Starling Bank employment tribunal
The outcome of the Employment Tribunal claim brought by Gulnaz Raja against Starling Bank Limited (1) (Starling), and Matthew Newman (2) was reported last month.
Published Article
EU banks show slow progress on gender diversity
On-Demand
The UK's green agenda - the outcomes of COP27 and actions since COP26
Opinion
Rising wages ahead
In the Autumn Statement delivered on 17 November, rises to the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates were announced, to take effect from 1 April 2023.
Opinion
World Cup 2022 – how employers can avoid scoring an own goal!
The World Cup kicks off in Qatar on Sunday 20 November 2022, with the final taking place on Sunday 18 December 2022. Undoubtedly, this is a huge sporting event, and many employees will be keen to show their support for their favourite teams. However, due to the time difference, start times for the matches are between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. UK time, which could have an impact on employers if employees who wish to watch the matches are scheduled to work.
Legal Update
Settlement agreements – what are the limitations?
Settlement agreements are commonplace in an employment context and are ordinarily used to provide the parties to the agreement with certainty following the conclusion of an employment relationship.
Opinion
The vanishing dismissal
Where an employee appeals against their dismissal under a contractual appeal procedure and their appeal is successful, reinstatement to their previous role is automatic and does not require approval or agreement from the employee.
Opinion
Settlement agreements – what are the limitations post Bathgate?
Settlement agreements in an employment context are ordinarily used to provide both parties with certainty following the conclusion of an employment relationship – but what happens when there is alleged discrimination after entering into a settlement agreement?
Legal Update
The Retained EU Law
Created at the end of the Brexit transition period, Retained EU Law is a category of domestic law that consists of EU-derived legislation retained in our domestic legal framework by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. This was never intended to be a permanent arrangement as parliament promised to deal with retained EU law through the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (the “Bill”).
Legal Update
IR35 rules here to stay after government U-turn
A few weeks ago we brought you news that following the Government’s mini-budget it was confirmed that the off-payroll working rules (known as “IR35”) put in place for public and private sector businesses from 2017 and 2021 would be scrapped from April 2023.
Legal Update
Redundancy consultation and selection concerning expiry of a fixed term contract – EAT put the spotlight onto a ‘selection pool of one’
In Mogane v Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered whether it was fair to dismiss a nurse as redundant on the basis that that her fixed-term contract was due to expire before that of her colleague.
Opinion
Lying on your CV – what can possibly go wrong?
The majority of people do not feel the need to embellish their CV to get that coveted position and move on up the career ladder. Their worthiness and benefit to the hiring organisation are easily demonstrated through the recruitment process – application, psychometric testing, selection day or interview.
Opinion
Why you shouldn’t buy a dragon with school budget
As a result of a recent Charity Commission legal action, the former trustee of a Welsh charity was ordered to pay over £117,000 to Wrexham charities which support cancer patients.
Legal Update
Changes to holiday pay for part-year workers
In July 2022, the Supreme Court handed down its long-awaited Judgement in the case of Harpur Trust v Brazel relating to the correct calculation of statutory holiday pay for part year workers. This decision has implications for all part year workers on contracts which subsist all year round, whether their hours are normal or irregular.