Illogical reason for redundancy. Is this unfair dismissal?

My employer has informed me that it no longer wants to carry on operating the area of business that I work in. There are only two employees who work in this particular area – me and my colleague - and we have both been provisionally selected for redundancy. The reason given by my employer for ceasing to carry on this area of the business is illogical as my product is completely aligned with the stated aims of the business (in both its current state and in its reorganized state). Does this mean that I have a case for unfair dismissal? Have I been unfairly selected? Please note that I started employment on 2 September, 2008.


thanks

Thank you for your message.

The DTI's defition of Redundancy is "dismissal caused by an employer's need to cut jobs, move the place of work or close down completely". It is not usually an easy decision for any employer to take and I would imagine that your employer has considered this carefully.

Your employer does have a duty to consult with you to discuss ways of avoiding the redundancy so it would be a good idea to raise any points during your meeting.

You need to have at least one year's service to make a claim for unfair dismissal and 2 years service to qualify for statutory redundnacy pay and as you have only been employed since 8th September 2008, your service is under this threshold.

I hope this has helped.