Correct consultation period for a multi site company?

Hi,

I work as an engineer for a relatively large UK based engineering company. It has recently been announced that a number of our UK offices are entering into colsultation regarding redundancies - with each office working with a 30 consultation period and not all starting or finishing at exactly the same time.

For the purposes of management and organisation the company is split into different offices within different regions (eg Scotland / North West / London etc etc) however everyone is essentially employed by the same company and paid by the same company (same name on all contracts and pay slips). I'm not sure if it's worth noting but there are a number of offices in each different region.

With this in mind is it not the case that as there is very likely to be well over 100 redundancies across all the offices and regions that the consultation period should be 90 days rather than 30? I'm not sure as it's all about "one establishment" as far as I can tell and I am unsure whether this is an office or a company?

My office is yet to have our first consultation meeting and this is something which would be good to understand before we get there.

Thanks for any advice you can give!

Regards,

gordy01

Hi gordy01,

Sorry I don't have the answer for you and I was actually just wondering if you ever got an answer to your question, as I now have exactly the same question as you. My company has a number of offices but essentially we are all employed and paid out of the same company. We are trying to establish the definition of "establishment" for the purposes of working out what consultation period we are entitled to. Currently, we are only being given 30 days but think we may have a right to 90 days based on the fact that the company is putting >100 employees at risk across all offices. Hope you (or somebody) can help.

Many thanks.

Hi Gordy

The legislation does indeed talk about the number of redundancies taking place at "one establishment", which not the same as Company or Organisation. There is little guidance available on what an establishment means, but in simple terms it usually refers to a unit which is fairly autonomous. For instance, a regional office could well be considered an establishment. In one case it was found that a national sales force, with its members wporking out of regional offices, were actually all part of the same establishment because of the organisational structure, rather than their office base.

It sounds like your employer may well be able to argue that the regions are separate establishments but it would do no harm raising this with them. This is quite a grey area, so if enough employees raise objections they may decide to extend it to 90 days rather than run the risk of claims and protective awards being made.

Regards

Pete

I have a similar situation where there are redundancies being proposed in at least 3 Countries and exceeding 100 people. It is the same Company and within the Calander year there have certtainly been more than 100 in the UK alone. What do I have to look for on the Company Documentation to decide on the "establishment" issue?

The "establishment" is not always the same as the company. If there are various sites, each one could be an establishment.

Regards

Pete