Managing redundancy in a business restructure

Two recent decisions provide some timely guidance to employers involved in restructuring.

1. Consultation obligations

In Communication, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia v QR National Ltd, the Federal Court (Court) ordered QR National to comply with its enterprise agreement consultation obligations before acting on any expressions of interest for voluntary redundancy that it had received from its employees.

What does this mean for employers?

• Employers need to be aware of and comply with their consultation obligations under applicable awards/enterprise agreements when implementing major changes at the workplace (including in relation to redundancies/restructures).