Insight
Vishal Garg, Chief Executive of mortgage firm Better.com has been heavily criticised for dismissing around 900 employees on a Zoom call. Employees on the call were told they were part of an unlucky group and their employment would be terminated immediately. Mr Garg’s actions have been described as callous and his scorched earth management style has been criticised previously following the leaking of emails sent to staff.
Although heavily criticised, it doesn’t appear though that Mr Garg’s actions have fallen foul of US labor laws, however this would be entirely different if Better.com operated on this side of the Atlantic.
UK Legal Position
In the UK employers proposing to make 20 or more employees redundant would need to undertake a collective consultation process with staff for at least 30 days, or 45 days if more than 100 people are being made redundant. A collective consultation process would involve collective consultation meetings with trade union representatives or elected employee representatives, and likely individual consultation meetings with the affected staff.
If an employer failed to collectively consult employees would be entitled to a protective award and potentially further compensation from the Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal, particularly where there has been no consultation with staff.
UK employers should always take advice if considering redundancies, particularly when the numbers are over 20 due to the strict requirements and fixed penalties for non-compliance.