Joanne Neill worked part-time and was reportedly told on one of her days off, via a video call titled ‘catch up’, that she was being made redundant.
Employment Judge Liz Ord stated: “The short notice period she was given of the meeting and the misleading title of the invite – ‘catch up’ – meant she was unprepared and blind-sided.”
The judge also suggested that Neill's employer may have exacerbated Neill's mental health challenges, as they did not offer HR support during or after the redundancy meeting via video call.
Commenting on the ruling, Briony Richards, Senior Associate in our Employment team, explains to HR Magazine that managers should ensure that they are taking into account adjustments for employees if they are being made redundant, especially if they work part-time. She continues:
In a redundancy situation, this means ensuring that redundancy-related meetings are held during an employee’s usual working days and, so far as is reasonably possible, part-time workers receive correspondence about redundancies at the same time as their full-time colleagues. This may involve some careful forward thinking, when kicking off a redundancy.
"Where employers are aware that an affected employee has a disability, they should speak with them about any adjustments which may be required. If in doubt, seek medical evidence, including advice from occupational health specialists.
"It’s also good practice to include a line in any letter inviting an employee to a consultation meeting to say that the employee should let the employer know if they require any adjustments to be made for the meeting. Check this with the employee at the outset of the meeting.
Read the full piece in HR Magazine here.
