Definitions: Redundancy, Domestic Emergency

“Redundancy” has two different meanings under UK employment law.

The first meaning is for the purposes of statutory redundancy pay and the law relating to dismissal. For the purposes of the Employment Rights Act (ERA), an employee is regarded as having been dismissed by reason of redundancy if the main reason for the dismissal is that the business no longer has a need for employees to carry out work of a particular kind and/or in a particular location.

The second meaning concerns the obligation to consult and inform employees about impending redundancies. For this purpose “redundancy” is simply termination of employment for a reason “not related to the individual concerned” (TULRCA 1992, s.195).

“Domestic Emergency”
Employees have a statutory right to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to deal with domestic emergencies, for example: to provide assistance or to make arrangements if a dependant falls ill, or dies; there is a disruption or termination in care arrangements for a dependant; or a child is involved in an unexpected incident whilst at school.  A recent EAT ruled that this is intended to cover short emergency situations, to enable the employee to put arrangements in place.  For example, finding alternative care arrangements for dependants, but not to provide the care themselves for an extended period.