Redeployment on redundancy: employer obligations clarified

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has recently provided some useful guidance on when it will not be "reasonable in all the circumstances" to redeploy a worker from a redundant position to another available position within the organisation for the purposes of the "genuine redundancy" exclusion from unfair dismissal claims.

It has also demonstrated for the first time that it is prepared to order applicants to provide security to satisfy potential cost orders in appropriate cases.

First instance decision

In Velasquez v Cabrini Health Ltd [2017] FWC 5965, a Grade 3 social worker claimed his dismissal was not a genuine redundancy because his employer did not redeploy him into another available Grade 1 position for which he was clearly qualified.