Final Consultations Whilst On Holiday

Does anyone know if an employer can arrange a final consultation meeting at short notice while an employee is on pre-agreed annual holiday, go ahead anyway and thus maken an employee redundant in their absence - or should they be expected to wait for the employee to return to work before completing the process.

Would an employee subject to this lack of consulation be able to make a claim against the company for not allowing for reasonable consultation to be completed?

Thanx,

dto

Depends. If it's an individual consultation process then yes the employer should wait until the employee is back.

If it's a collective consultation with reps, then it's may not be possible to wait until no one is on leave before conducting consultation meetings, so in that case, as long as the employee is being represented, that's probably fine.

So possibly a claim for unfair dismissal, yes, however bear in mind that unless the outcome would or may have been different, there's probably no point taking it as far as a tribunal as there would be no financial loss to demonstrate.

thanx for the reply - it is for individual consultations - i think I have finally managed to persuade them to wait until the employee returns from holiday as i know they have issues that they still wish to raise as part of the consultation. thanx again... dto