If notification of redundancy is served and the employee accepts another position within the notice period can the employer withhold the statutory redundancy?
can a Gratuitous Redundancy Payment be tied to completion of the notice period?
How do you determine the tax free limit for gratuitous redundancy payments
any opinions welcomed - please make an indication of how sure you are of your opinion.
11. Employees wishing to leave their employment before their notice of proposed dismissal expires (Form RP6)
Where an employee wants to leave before his/her notice expires, he should give his employer notice in writing of his wish to terminate his contract of employment on an earlier date than that specified in the Notice of Dismissal (included in comprehensive Redundancy Form RP50). Form RP6 may be used for this purpose (Part 1 of Form). It is open to the employer to give the employee a counter-notice requesting him/her to withdraw their notice of desire to leave and to continue in employment until the original date of notice expires. Again, Form RP6 may be used by the employer for this purpose (Part 2 of Form). If the employee unreasonably refuses to comply with this counter-notice, the employer can then contest liability to pay a redundancy payment. Disputes in this regard can be dealt with by the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
If the employer does in fact agree to the employee’s request to leave early, he can indicate his consent by using Part 3 of Form RP6. This involves the employer giving the employee consent to alter his proposed date of termination of employment so as to bring that new date within what is referred to as “the obligatory period of notice” (Section 10 of the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 and Section 9 of the Redundancy Payments Act 1979). The date of dismissal then becomes the date on which the employee’s notice expires.
The term “obligatory period of notice” means either the statutory minimum notice (at least two weeks and, depending on service, up to eight weeks) or the period of notice specified in the contract of employment, whichever is the longer. In this situation, the employer therefore agrees in writing (usually by means of Part 3 of Form RP6) for an alteration of the original termination date so as to bring that date within the obligatory period of notice as above and thereby facilitate the employee’s request to leave early. This clears the way for payment of statutory redundancy based on service up to the new date of departure.