Tesco recently announced their plans to cut 4,500 jobs in 153 of their stores as part of their aim to reduce their costs by £1.5bn. The majority of jobs will be lost at 153 Metro stores with the cuts made in an effort to rebuild profits as the supermarket chain still tries to recover from the 2014 accounting scandal where the company broke rules on accurate financial disclosure. It is also thought that the cut may be a result in the growth of German budget rivals, Aldo and Lidl, who apply constant pressure to the big supermarkets.
There are also concerns, which have been highlighted by the shadow business minister, Rebecca Long-Bailey, that this is an indicator of further job loss unless the government acts “to save Britain’s high streets.” Reflecting the fact that while more and more people become dependent on online shopping, hundreds of thousands of people rely on high street jobs.
In broad terms, there are 3 main redundancy situations an employer may rely on:
It is likely that Tesco will be relying on the second or third situation above. Although redundancy is a potentially fair reason for dismissal, they must ensure they follow a fair procedure, or they may risk unfair dismissal claims from the dismissed employees. Further they must ensure that the 4,500 people who are made redundancy receive at least their redundancy pay under the statutory scheme as well as ensuring that they comply with their duty to inform and consult its employees.
If you would like advice on redundancy or have been dismissed on grounds of redundancy and would like to speak to an expert employment lawyer, please contact us via email at contact@davenportsolicitors.con or telephone on 02079036888
