Is my redundancy unfair?

Q. I have just been made compulsorily redundant on the basis that I scored one less point than a colleague who had applied for voluntary redundancy. My colleague has subsequently resigned but the employer still made me redundant which doesn’t seem fair. What can I do? 

A. In general circumstances an employer is not obliged to consider accepting requests for voluntary redundancy when it is going through a redundancy exercise. Having said that, however, if someone who wasn’t made redundant leaves during the redundancy process you may be able to argue it is unfair your position being made redundant on the basis that there is a vacancy within the business which you could fill. If that is the case the Tribunal may consider your selection to be unreasonable and you may have a valid claim for Unfair Dismissal. If you appeal against your selection for redundancy and set out the grounds of your appeal, you may well be successful in getting your employer to reconsider the stance they have taken.