The EAT has handed down a landmark decision this week regarding an employer’s obligations to collectively consult over proposed redundancies.

 

The decision in UK Coal Mining Ltd v (1) National Union of Mineworkers and (2) The British Association of Colliery Management sets out that employers have a duty to consult over the reason for making redundancies as well as the fact of the redundancies themselves.  In this case, the EAT set out that where closure and dismissals are inextricably interlinked the duty to consult over the reasons for the closure arises. 

 

This decision is particularly significant because until now UK courts had consistently held that there was no obligation for an employer to consult over the reason for the redundancies, even though this limited the opportunity for meaningful consultation about ways of avoiding the redundancies. 

 

In practical terms this means that an employer who would previously have presented the decision that a site be closed as a fait accompli and then gone on to consult about the potential dismissals arising from this closure, will now have to commence consultation about the potential closure itself since at the stage he is proposing to close the site, he is proposing redundancies.  In their decision the EAT expressed the view that in the context of a closure, the cases where an employer planned a closure but believed redundancies would nonetheless be avoided would be exceptional.  

 

This decision also represents a major step towards European consultation practices where worker representatives are involved in consultation about the reasons for redundancies and closures. 

Click here for the full decision.