90 day consultation - can they give notice of redundancy during this?

My employer has started a 90 day consultation with a view to making redundancies in June. However they intend to issue notice during this period on the understanding that the notice will not come into effect before the end of the consultation period.

My understanding was that they could not issue notice during the 90 day consultation period and that this could only be done at the end of this 90 day period. If this is the case I should be entitled to my 8 weeks pay in lieu of notice, plus 8 weeks @ £350,plus outstanding holiday at this point and not before.

My employer is claimimg they can run the consultation and notice periods at the same time.

Any advice on which of us is correct would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Darren

Hi Darren

This is complicated issue and the case law is not very decisive. Certainly, if your employer serves notice before consultation has concluded they would leave themselves exposed to claims of unfair dismissal, on the basis that they had made up their minds before concluding consultation.

The law seems to allow employers to serve notice during the 90 days as long as consultation has clearly ended and as long as nobody's dismissal takes effect before the end of the 90 day period. However, it is a brave employer who relies on that, particularly if there may be doubt over whether or not consultation has really ended. If I was your employer I would want something in writing from the employee reps to say that they see no purpose in continuing with consultation and want the employer to get on with it.

Hope that helps

Pete