In Person For the second Claimant: In Person For the v Mr D Soanes, Solicitor — 2020

The tribunal heard unfair dismissal claims by Mr P Daly and Mr M Weymouth against Osborne Construction Limited. It found that the company had reduced its management structure after reviewing performance against the 2015 business plan and concluding that it had fewer projects and lower forecast turnover and margin than expected. The tribunal accepted that the two Divisional Commercial Manager posts were removed from the structure and that this amounted to a genuine redundancy situation under section 139(1)(b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

The tribunal rejected the claimants' case that the dismissals were driven by Alan Baybut's wish to protect his own position or by alleged pressure to inflate forecasts. It also rejected the suggestion that Terry Fishlock or Richard Bell should have been included in the selection pool. The tribunal found that the pool could properly be limited to the two Divisional Commercial Managers because their roles were the layer being deleted, their work was not shared with others, and no selection criteria were needed.

On procedure, the tribunal found that consultation began in March 2018 and included written and face-to-face meetings, discussion of alternative roles in the Communities business, consideration of freelance Senior Surveyor roles, and discussion of bumping. It noted the decision in Samels v University of Creative Arts on bumping and held there was no general obligation to consider it. The tribunal also found the appeal process was thorough and consistent with Williams v Compair Maxam, and said there were no procedural errors such that Polkey v A E Dayton Services Ltd needed to be considered. Both unfair dismissal complaints were therefore dismissed.