All UK companies now have to abide by the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 and the Equality Act 2010. This Act overrules all contracts of employment that many on here think are still valid, such that LIFO is the sole means of selecting people for compulsory redundancy.
If a company decides compulsory redundancy is required it must identify which employees will be made redundant and make sure they select people fairly and do not discriminate
Fair reasons for selecting employees for redundancy include skills, qualifications and aptitude, standard of work and/or performance, attendance and an individual’s disciplinary record.
Companies can select employees based on their length of service (‘last in, first out’) but only if they you can justify it. LIFO is likely to be perceived as indirect discrimination by the courts if it affects one group of people more than another. Companies should not rely on length of service as their only selection criteria as this will probably be seen as age discrimination.
It is best for companies to have a matrix, preferably agreed with unions and their employees that include all the fair reasons for selection of compulsory redundancy.
For those of you who use sickness (attendance) as a rostering tool, think again. Companies and their crewing departments know exactly who uses sickness for their own ends and I suspect it will be those individual’s attendance records who are targeted.