Employers warned over redundancy after university ruling

Posted 29/11/2010

Employers at higher education institutions all over the UK have been issued a warning over redundancy procedures after a university was found to have broken the law.

Stirling University ended the contracts of around 100 fixed-term staff without consulting with the relevant unions, BBC News reports.

The employees took the university to an employment law tribunal and it has now been ruled that it breached regulations.

It was successfully argued by the University and College Union (UCU) that Stirling had a legal obligation to consult with union representatives and that it should have classed the contract terminations as redundancy.

As a result, the university may be forced to pay out hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation.

UCU Scottish official Mary Senior commented: “It is an important ruling for the thousands of university staff on fixed-term contracts around the UK. Universities have to understand that they cannot just wait for fixed-term contracts to expire to get rid of staff.”

According to Direct Gov, if an employer is making less than 20 employees redundant in one establishment, the circumstances require an individual consultation and staff may be eligible for compensation amounting to 90 days’ pay.