Leading UK employment law experts Your Employment Matters comments on the growing threat of redundancy in the UK and how your employment rights could help.

The economy has been suffering and failed to recover since the height of the recession in 2008. A growing number of employers fear that job cuts might be imminent if the situation does not improve.

Almost two out of three employers have said that they would have to make job cuts if economic growth did not pick up within the next 12 months.

This could have a damning effect on the nation’s workforce and millions could be pushed into unemployment. Employment law experts Your Employment Matters, explains how you could be unfairly dismissed in this situation and what rights you have.

Caroline Harper, employment law expert and founder of Your Employment Matters says:

“Times are tough and the weak economy has taken its toll on UK businesses. As a result, a significant number of companies are cutting down their workforce because they simply cannot afford to keep staff.

“However, if you have been selected for reasons connected with your Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation etc this is unfair and discriminatory. Alternatives to redundancy should have been reviewed and you should have been properly consulted with and told directly why you have been selected. There are a number of issues that qualify for unfair dismissal and if you feel that you could have a claim to take to a tribunal, Your Employment Matters could help.”

What is unfair dismissal?
Unfair dismissal can apply to any situation where your employment has been terminated and you did not resign. This includes redundancy and cases were you feel like you were set up to fail, which is known as constructive dismissal.

There are number of ways which dismissal from employment can be unfair and this includes situations where the employer did not have a fair reason to fire you, for example poor job performance. Alternatively, if your employer did not follow the correct company dismissal process or you were dismissed for an automatic reason such as requesting maternity leave or requesting flexible working hours your employment rights could have been violated.