Genuine Redundancy
It is important as an employer you understand what your obligations are concerning making a position redundant and ensuring that it is a genuine redundancy and not an unfair dismissal or unlawful termination. As an employer, you also need to comply with any relevant award, enterprise agreement or registered agreement that is in play. We suggest heading over to our legal partners, Employment Innovations, to learn more.
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Notice of Termination.
An employer must provide an employee with a written notice letter of the day of termination when ending their employment.
An employer may give notice to the employee by either:
- delivering it personally
- leaving it at the employee’s last known address
- sending it by pre-paid post to the employee’s last known address.
- via a certified digital delivery system like Employment Hero
An employee may also need to give their employee notice of termination if their award of agreement specifies it.
Redundancies at Scale
If a business is considering redundancy of 15 or more staff, employers must give written notification to the Department of Human Services of the proposed dismissals. More information, and a redundancy notification template, can be found on the Department of Human Services website.
What is a small business?
A small business employer, for the purpose of determining pay, is an employer who employs fewer than 15 employees at the time when redundancy notice is given. To determine whether the employer has fewer than 15 employees, the following factors need to be considered:
- all employees employed by the employer at that time are to be counted
- a casual employee is not to be counted unless, at that time, they have been employed on a regular and systematic basis
- associated entities are taken to be one entity
- the employee being terminated and any other employees being terminated at that time are counted.
An award or agreement may have different redundancy provisions which could apply instead of those listed above. These provisions, such as industry-specific redundancy schemes, can override the listed exceptions. For example, the industry-specific redundancy scheme in the Building and Construction General On-site Award means that small business employers may need to provide redundancy payment.