Financial information

A. No. Section 188(4) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Consolidation Act 1992 says the employer is obliged to give you information in writing about a number of things, including the reasons for the redundancies.

There is nothing in TULRCA to enable your employer to escape the obligation to provide information in support of collective redundancy consultation by pleading confidentiality.

Employers sometimes argue that commercial confidentiality does not make it “reasonably practicable” to provide you with the information you need.

But the rules (including Stock Exchange Rules) do not prevent employers giving commercially sensitive information to reps, as long as they are willing to enter into confidentiality agreements for a specified period.

Acas guidance to employers is that “good employment practice recommends that you be as open as possible with unions and employee representatives. Withholding information may hinder the progress of effective consultation and may even render the consultation invalid”.

It is worth reminding your employer that the European Court of Justice requires consultation to be “tantamount to a negotiation” (Junk v Kuhnel Case C-188/03) and “with a view to reaching agreement”.