Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T22:06:04.473Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Redundant Approaches to Redundancy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2000

Get access

Extract

The apparently straightforward definition of redundancy contained in section 139 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 has generated a disproportionate and confused body of case law. In essence, redundancy pay is payable in three situations: the business disappears (s. 139(1)(a)(i)); the workplace disappears (s. 139(1)(a)(ii)); the job disappears (s. 139(1)(b)). As far as the disappearing workplace is concerned, recent cases have shown the courts taking a more pragmatic approach. The old contractual test laid down in UK Atomic Energy Authority v. Claydon [1974] I.C.R. 128 (where, by my contract, can I be required to work?) has been replaced by the geographic approach (where, in practice, do I work?): Bass Leisure Ltd v. Thomas [1994] I.R.L.R. 104 (E.A.T.) and High Table v. Horst [1997] I.R.L.R. 513 (C.A.). A similar pragmatism can be detected in the House of Lords' ruling in Murray v. Foyle Meats Ltd. [1999] I.R.L.R. 562 concerning the third aspect of the definition of redundancy, the disappearing job (s. 139(1)(b)).

Type
Case and Comment
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Law Journal and Contributors 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)