ARTICLE · 19 OCTOBER 2011

Effecting a fair redundancy under the Fair Work Act: redeployment

DLA Piper Australia

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An employer must take reasonable steps to redeploy a redundant employee, to avoid a potential unfair dismissal claim.

AustraliaEmployment and HR

Joel Davis

Leah Dowling

The current industrial sphere is witnessing significant restructuring by some of Australia's largest companies in a bid to weather the present economic climate. The high Australian dollar paired with decreasing demand in some industries has forced many companies to rethink their employment needs. Qantas recently announced it will cut 1000 jobs as part of a restructure and BlueScope has indicated that it will cut 1000 export steel jobs at two mill locations. Direct responses to economic circumstances can have serious industrial repercussions for any business if redundancies are not carried out in accordance with the relevant industrial instrument and legislation.

Accordingly, it may be time to look at recent developments in the area of redundancy under the Fair Work Act 2009 ("Act"), specifically in relation to the issue of redeployment.

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