sickness issues regarding redundancy

They are looking to make a few people redundant where I work. They will be deciding who goes on a merit basis as I believe they can no longer do it on a last in first out basis . I have worked for the company for four years and in the first two years only had one day off sick, we are allowed ten paid sick days a year and in the last two years I have had to use them when having operations on knees - one year I had one done and the following year the other - I had a sick note from the doctor or hospital each time.

Consultations are to be held in the next few days. Each person is to be allocated points for their timekeeping, skills, whether they work well on their own or as part of a team, whether they use their initiative and also their sickness record - so but basically I want to know where I stand with regards to me taking sick for a genuine reason and if they can use this against me when making their decision.

Thank you for your message, although I am sorry to hear about your situation.

Length of service is a fairly common selection criteria. However, the the enactment of the age discrimination legislation in 2006 has made the use of 'last in - first out' less straightforward as it can be discriminatory.

Sickness/absence is often a criterion in redundancy selection. This is not an unreasonable criteria unless absence was related to a disability covered by the Disability Discrimination Act or time off was pregnancy related, then it would be unfair.

I'm afraid even if your time off was genuine sickness and certified, it is not unreasonable to be used as a criterion for redundancy selection.

I hope this information has helped answer your question.