Subjective Redundancy Criterion

Is it appropriate for an employer in a redundancy situation to apply subjective reasoning in terms of redundancy selection?  Yes says the Employment Appeal Tribunal ("EAT").

The EAT has handed down its judgement in Mitchells of Lancaster (Brewers) Ltd v Tattersall. The EAT held at paragraph 21:

'...just because (subjective) criteria...' '...are matters of judgement, it does not mean that they cannot be assessed in a dispassionate or objective way...', 

 They further noted that:- 

'...the concept of a criterion only being valid if it can be "scored or assessed" causes us a little concern, as it could be invoked to limit selection procedures to box-ticking exercises...'.

What is important however is to ensure that the criterion isn't what the Tribunals would class as exceptionable and employers should still be prepared to be dispassionate and objective. That being said there is no reason why an employer cannot measure what the likely impact on the business is to be when dismissing one person above another and thus make a judgement call on that basis.

If you are planning or approaching a redundancy situation in Manchester or London and need to instruct expert Employment Lawyers then please feel free to call us on 07716 346 708.