Restructuring

A. Where an employer decides it needs to reduce the number of employees required to carry out a particular type of work, one of the ways to select individuals for redundancy is to carry out some sort of appraisal based on skills and qualifications, experience and job performance.

There is nothing unlawful about an employer asking employees to reapply for their jobs as part of such a selection process, so long as it is a genuine redundancy situation and the selection or process is not discriminatory.


If you individually decide not to cooperate in the process by reapplying for your job, it is likely that you are putting your own job at risk. However, your employer must still give you notice before terminating your employment by reason of redundancy. 


It is hard to legally challenge either an employer’s decision to make redundancies in the first place, or their selection process. 


Note that there is no legal obligation for an employer to consult the union over collective redundancies unless they are intending to make redundant 20 or more employees at the same establishment within a 90-day period (section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992). However, they must still follow a fair procedure and a failure to do so may make the dismissal unfair.