Veteran manager unfairly selected for redundancy

A manager who was made redundant after working for almost 30 years for the same employer has won the right to compensation after a tribunal pinpointed deficiencies in the procedure followed and found that her dismissal was unfair.

The company was facing serious financial difficulties and had decided that one of its two managers had to go. The woman was selected for redundancy whilst her colleague kept his job. An Employment Tribunal (ET) subsequently found that redundancy was a potentially fair reason for her dismissal.

Her dismissal was nevertheless ruled unfair on the basis that the selection procedure employed was unreasonable. Amongst other things, the ET considered that it was wrong that marketing skills – perceived as being one of the woman’s strengths and a weakness of her colleague – were not treated as a selection criterion.

In ruling upon the company’s challenge to that decision, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) rejected the woman’s plea that the procedure had been a sham in that the selection criteria had been drawn up deliberately to secure a particular outcome. However, in dismissing the company’s appeal, it found that there were numerous shortcomings in the selection procedure and that the finding of unfair dismissal was not perverse.

Contact: David Hacker