What is a ‘genuine redundancy’ and how is it different from an unfair dismissal?
A redundancy occurs when an employee is dismissed because the job he or she is doing is no longer required to be done by anyone. For example, if an employer buys a machine that performs a job previously done by an employee, that employee’s job may be ‘made redundant’. A redundancy will only be ‘genuine’ when it is not possible for the employer to ‘redeploy’ – or reassign, the employee to another job in the business or it is unreasonable for the employer to redeploy his or he employee in the circumstances. If an employee is made ‘genuinely redundant’, the dismissal will not be considered unfair.
