The Financial Times reports that a soon-to-be-published survey reveals a worrying level of ignorance about the legal procedures involved with restructuring within organisations.
The survey of FTSE-500 companies, commissioned by law firm Taylor Joynson Garrett and In-House Lawyer magazine, found that despite it being a criminal offence not to notify the DTI of the intention to give notice to more than 20 staff, 40 per cent of those questioned did not know that 20 was the limit, or would not have considered notifying the DTI about the planned redundancies.
The survey also found that 59 per cent of companies surveyed had made redundancies in the last six months. There was also worrying evidence from in-house lawyers, according to the paper, that the decision on who to select for redundancy was in some cases being carried out in advance of the actual process of selection, with HR departments being required to put the process in motion rather than take part in the decision-making process. One-fifth of the in-house lawyers surveyed said they had come across this practice.
