Redundancy is defined in the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967-2007 (the Redundancy Payments Acts). The definition covers several scenarios including circumstances where an employer intends to close down a business in its entirety or at a particular location. It also includes where an employer decides to reduce the number of its employees or has decided that, in future, the work for which a particular employee is employed will be done in a different manner for which the employee is not sufficiently qualified or trained or will be done by a person capable of doing other work for which the employee is not sufficiently qualified or trained. A genuine redundancy arises as a result of change in the work place that the employer’s decision brings about.

This article by Alicia Compton appeared in the May 2009 edition of The In-House Lawyer.