Follow internal policies when consulting for restructure

A hospital trust unfairly dismissed a senior manager when it matched her with unsuitable roles during a wide-ranging restructuring exercise, an employment tribunal has ruled. The judge stated that the trust “misled” the employee regarding a matching exercise during the restructure exercise.

During the restructure exercise the employee was offered an alternative to redundancy but at a salary of £15,000 less than she was receiving.

The tribunal ruled that the restructuring team failed to carry out an adequate “matching” exercise and did not establish from the duties and responsibilities. According to the judge the exercise was carried out “without reasonable or proper cause, in such a way as was calculated or likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of trust and confidence”.

The panel were untrained and received no guidance and according to the findings, failed to consider most of the factors they were required to consider under the organisation’s matching policy.

Employees have the right to be consulted about the changes occurring in a restructure. Setting out to employees what the proposed changes are, why they’re occurring, being open, doing due diligence at the start and following the business’s policies. Confirmation of the removal of a job role should not be carried out until all alternatives have been examined and the consultation process has ended.