refuse proposal to avoid redundancy

Hi ,
I'll be as brief as possible-Due to the recent loss of a major account on the Clothing side of the company they are looking to restructure /reorganise the company again ( we had a major restructure 12 months ago) and my role has been selected as being possibly redundant as the Clothing Account managers/production manager now have less work to do and there are similarities between their department and mine.

I work in a different area of the company ( Homewares) in production/account management and stock control/production for the Ecom Homewares business and I think the intention is to give my accounts and responsibilities to the other department.

As the loss of work on the clothing side is almost certainly not permanent ( the company ended up rehiring several people it made redundant last year when business improved later in the year) and does not really represent a whole job role( the person who managed that account has responsiblity for other accounts etc) and as other areas of the business are doing well ( one brand has taken on 2 new staff in the last 6 months) , I feel that there is not really a genuine need for redundancy and it could be avoided by myself and a person on the clothing side agreeing to work reduced hours ( 3 or 4 day week ) to form a kind of job share , by agreeing to a reduction in pay or by agreeing to take on additional tasks from the more sucessful areas of the company .

My question is this , can my employer refuse a reasonable proposal to avoid redundancy through pay or hours reduction, job sharing or even transfer and demotion if it can be shown that it would not be detrimental to the company and would in fact benefit it.
I have researched this on line and can only find advice from the side of the employer ie where employers wish to propose a reduction in hours not where an employee wishes to propose it or has proposed it and it has been refused.

Any advice would be extremely welcome.
Thank you

Regards
R

They are under an obligation to listen to and consider alternative proposals, but it's their call really as to whether they are viable/desirable.

Does the other person also agree with what you are proposing? If you both want it, and there are benefits for the business, your employer may welcome the idea rather than having to pay redundancy pay and get rid of one of you.

Hi Eleanor,
Thank you for the reply.
My concern is that there isn't really a genuine need for redundancy as the drop in business is almost certainly temporary( we have been through similar events before without the need for redundancies) and my employer is just using this as an excuse to get rid of me as my length of service is reflected in my salary and he would prefer to replace me with a cheaper staff member.

I can genuinely show that a change to a 4 day week for myself and 1 or 2 other employees or an expansion of our remits to include work from the busier parts of the company would be enough to save money and make the business more efficient whilst still retaining all our knowledge and skills within the company for when business improves but I am worried that they will not consider my proposals seriously if that is not actually what they are trying to achieve.

If my proposals are rejected , do I have the right to know a detailed reason why or can they just refuse it without giving a financial explanation ?
Do they have to show that it won't benefit the business?
What would happen if they agree it is a good solution but the other employees are not willing to reduce their hours?
Would they easily be able to make me redundant and retain the other staff members ?

Thank you
R

There's no specific list of things they have to prove or disprove or specific amount of detail they need to give if they reject your proposal. If you and the other relevant employees are able to get together and put forward a detailed, costed, cost-effective or at the very least cost-neutral proposal that clearly benefits the business and they carry on with their plan, that would enhance a claim in a tribunal that redundancy was unfair. But there are no guarantees.

Your employer is obliged to consult with you meaningfully, which means genuinely listening to and considering alternatives. But there is no specific set of standards to measure up against, an employer is generally trusted to be able to make decisions regarding the running of its business, employment law is there to ensure decisions are made fairly.

If other employees are not willing to go along with your proposal then it's not a viable alternative anyway. In terms of your own selection, it should be according to fair selection criteria. You should be told what these are, usually including things like performance appraisal ratings, skills, experience, suitability for the job, absence record, disciplinary record.