Woolworths Decision Has Significant Implications For Collective Redundancy Law

A landmark ruling of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in USDAW and others v WW Realisation 1 Ltd (in Liquidation) and another (a case arising out of the Woolworths insolvency in 2008) is likely to have significant implications for employers making large scale redundancies.

Where an employer proposes to make 20 or more redundancies over a period of 90 days, it will now have to consult collectively with employee representatives, irrespective of whether those employees are based at one large site or over several locations. This represents a significant change to the current "establishment" based approach to the collective redundancy consultation rules and will mean employers will need to coordinate and monitor redundancies across their businesses to ensure the consultation provisions are not inadvertently breached.