Layoff provisions in United Kingdom

Law of Layoff in United Kingdom

Lay off has been defined under Section 147(1) of the Employment Rights Act,1996 (hereinafter referred as Act). The section says that an employee said to be laid off for the period of for a week when the employee is working on terms and conditions mentioned under a contract. The condition is that the remuneration of the employee would depend on the employer giving him work of the kind he is hired to undertake. The employee would not get any remuneration for week if employer does not provide work to the employee.

Eligibility due to layoffs

Section 148(1) of the Act provides that employee is eligible for the redundancy payment in if the employee has been laid off when employee show his intention of claiming redundancy payment by giving written notice and the circumstances of the layoff are met before the production of notice as provided under Section 148(2) of the act.

Conditions for Redundancy Payment

As per Section 148(2) redundancy payment would be provided if the employee was laid off for a period of at least six weeks (of which not more than three were consecutive) within a period of thirteen weeks, where the last week of the series before the service of the notice ended on, or not more than four weeks before, the date of service of the notice. Alternatively, employee has been laid off for a period of at least four consecutive weeks, the last of which ended on, or not more than four weeks before, the date of service of the notice.

Conditions when employee would not be entitled to Redundancy Payment

Section 152(1) settles that employee would not get redundancy payment if there is a reasonable expectation at the date of service of notice that employee would get employment in four weeks under same employer for at least thirteen weeks during which period the employee would not be laid off or the counter notice advanced by the employer.

Calculation of weeks during Layoff 

As per Section 154(a) of the Act, it is irrelevant whether a series of weeks consists entirely of weeks for which the employee is laid off or partially of the one and partially of the other.

As per Section 154(b) of the Act, no account would be taken of any week for which an employee is laid off if the cause of layoff is a strike.

Situation in the case of death of employer during the time of layoff

Section 175 of the Act determines the situation and helps in calculation of weeks if there is death of employer and the consequences thereafter. It also clarifies the role and power of legal representative of the employer.

The section elaborates that when an employee’s employment contract has been renewed or reengaged by a personal representative of a deceased employer after renewal or reengagement and the employee has been laid off for one or more weeks by the personal representative, the week in which the employee was laid off for one or more weeks prior to the employer’s death, or has not given the deceased employer notice of intention to claim prior to the employer’s death or after the employer’s death.

Layoff and Strike

If the employee has given notice under section 148(1) for redundancy payment and takes part in strike, employer would not be entitled to terminate the contract of employment without notice as per Section 140 of the Act.

Difference between Law of layoff of India and United Kingdom

The difference between the definition of layoff between both India and United Kingdom are in the definition and scope. The Indian law has defined the layoff in a specific manner by stating the reasons for layoff that is absent in the English law. While the layoff period is calculated on the basis of hours and so the compensation is provided in India, it is calculated in terms of weeks in United Kingdom. There has been no such provision for the production of the notice to the employer to show that employee is intended to get the redundancy period as per the Indian law. The English law lacks the statutory guideline for the calculation of payment specifically in case of layoff. Specific conditions are mentioned in Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, where the employee is not entitled to compensation but in English act, only non-service of notice would lead to non-payment of the redundancy payment. In the Indian law, prior permission of government or appropriate authority is required to layoff, such kind of provision is not present in English law. While the Indian law does not provide for the compensation at the time of strike, English law provides the redundancy payment. Indian law fails to provide for the conditions if death of the employer occurs during the layoff period.

Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/contents