Made redundant: your rights, and the traps

Employment16 September 20255 min read

Redundancy sits in an awkward place. It is a lawful and often unavoidable part of running a business, yet for the person on the receiving end it can feel indistinguishable from being sacked. The law tries to hold both truths at once: an employer is entitled to decide it no longer needs a role, but it must be the role that is genuinely gone, and it must go about ending it the right way. When either of those fails, a redundancy can become an unfair dismissal. Here is the line, and the traps on both sides of it.

What makes a redundancy genuine

A genuine redundancy generally means the employer no longer requires the job to be done by anyone, usually because of operational change, a downturn, restructure, automation, or closure. The tell is that the position disappears, not merely the person in it. If the same work continues and someone else is quietly hired or shuffled in to do it, the “redundancy” label does not hold, and what looks like a restructure is really a dismissal wearing a costume.

Consultation is not a courtesy

In many jurisdictions, where a consultation obligation applies, it is a legal requirement rather than a nicety. That typically means telling affected employees about the proposed changes, giving them a real chance to respond, and genuinely considering what they say before the decision is finalised, not after. Consultation done as a box-ticking exercise, with the outcome already decided, is one of the most common ways an otherwise valid redundancy comes undone.

The redeployment question

A redundancy is often not genuine if the employer could reasonably have redeployed the person into another suitable role within the business or an associated entity. Employers are generally expected to look, to consider vacancies, adjacent teams, and related companies, before treating dismissal as the only option. Skipping that step is a frequent and avoidable trap, and one an employee is entitled to ask pointed questions about.

Entitlements and the fine print

Redundancy usually brings entitlements: notice or pay in lieu, accrued leave, and in many cases redundancy pay scaled to length of service. Read the details, because they are where value is won or lost, how severance is calculated, whether restraint or confidentiality terms survive your exit, and what any deed of release actually signs away. Do not sign a release under time pressure without understanding it; the cost of advice here is small against what a rushed signature can forfeit.

If it does not smell genuine

If your role vanishes but the work plainly continues, if there was no consultation where it was required, or if no thought was given to redeployment, the redundancy may not be genuine, and the door to an unfair dismissal claim may be open. As always, time limits are short. This article is general information only and is not legal advice; redundancy rules and entitlements vary by jurisdiction, so seek advice on your specific situation promptly.