Mainzeal and other mass redundancies

Sadly, today brought the news that 200 staff from the failed building company, Mainzeal, have been made redundant. In situations like these where there is obvious financial distress and where urgent action needs to be taken to preserve what’s left of the business, it is possible for the employer to make people redundant without going through the usual type of consultation and for the decision making timeframe to be severely shortened. Even though the overall redundancy process in these types of situations demands urgency, this does not mean that the employee has no rights. Employees are still entitled to be treated fairly and to be made redundant for genuine reasons, so, if for example, an employee is singled out for redundancy because they are female, Christian or Maori then that is still illegal. Nor can an overall justifiable redundancy be used to disguise ulterior motives that may apply to some of those selected for redundancy. If you are faced with a mass redundancy situation but you feel uneasy about how you have been treated it is a good idea to get advice.