It is very important to ensure that you comply with employment law when retrenchment employees. If you do not, you could find yourself facing a whole range of legal problems. There are many factors to consider when you are considering retrenchment any of your employees, and here are some of the key issues to know to avoid breaking the law.
Never Discriminate
Don’t allow anything other than professional reasons to influence your decision to retrenchment an employee. Perhaps you don’t particularly like the employee in question, but this should never enter the decision-making process. Make sure you keep a record of everything that you do in relation to the dismissal. Keep written records and minutes from meetings regarding the issue to ensure you can back up your decision if challenged.
Always Be Objective
You need a good reason to retrenchment someone, which means you must always be objective in your reasoning. There are a few key reasons for dismissing an employee, including capability, conduct, redundancy and legal restrictions. If the employee is performing badly, unable to carry out the job any longer, or his or her services are no longer required, you need to decide upon a concrete reason before you decide to dismiss them.
Consider Whether Other Changes Should Be Made Instead
Before you decide to retrenchment someone, consider whether the problem actually lies somewhere else. It could be that you need to make changes to your leadership style or the organisation of the business instead of simply getting rid of people. If you dismiss an employee and the problem continues, you will realise too late that you could have prevented the dismissal.
Alert the Employee to the Situation
You may be able to solve a problem by simply alerting the employee to it. They may not have realised that they were doing anything wrong or needed to improve, and this can give them a chance to change their ways and provide a more satisfactory solution for everyone. If they do not improve and they continue to make the same mistakes, you then have a stronger case for fair dismissal.
Hold a Formal Meeting
Make sure you notify the employee in question that they must attend a formal meeting, and make it clear that their possible dismissal is the main issue so that they have time to prepare a response. Inform them that they can be accompanied by an employee or trade union official if they so wish, and allow them to state their response during the meeting. Make sure that you do not make a decision during the meeting because your decision must not have been pre-judged, and also make sure you take minutes of the meeting.
Take Your Time
Never rush a decision when it comes to retrenched employees. If you rush things, you are more likely to make a mistake that could end up with the employee claiming that you dismissed them unfairly. Instead, always plan it very carefully and take your time to avoid making any mistakes.
The above is just the start when it comes to retrenchment your employees fairly, and there are many other details to be aware of to ensure you comply with employment law. If in doubt, your best bet may be to contact a specialist in commercial legal services. They will provide you with the most up-to-date advice that you need and help to clear up any issues for you, giving you peace of mind that you are doing everything right.
Great post helpful for me and I have just shared with my friends who could use this.
I am going to give it some serious consideration and see how I can effectively introduce in my organisation.
Nice stuff!! Your kind advice related to fair employee retrenchments is very much appreciated. Keep posting such kind of useful stuff.
Employees should follow a fair procedure to find alternatives to retrenchment. One wrong step can make a risk. Thanks for sharing the great article with us.
Good work Eric. Really Informative post, quite helpful for me. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for such an in depth article. I’ll follow your tips. It is a really helpful post for us.