CIPD Module 2 Assignment: Fair Dismissals and Redundancy

This report, prepared for CIPD Module 2, delves into the crucial aspects of employee dismissal and redundancy within an organizational context. It begins by differentiating between fair and unfair dismissals, outlining the legal and ethical considerations that employers must adhere to, using scenarios like a water park setting to illustrate these points. The report then emphasizes the significance of exit interviews as a vital tool for gathering feedback and understanding the reasons behind employee turnover, highlighting how this information can inform HR policies and reduce future turnover. Finally, it examines the process of making employees redundant, providing a step-by-step guide on how to manage this sensitive process while minimizing legal risks and maintaining employee respect. The author also reflects on the importance of exit interviews from both employer and employee perspectives, as well as the importance of considering the impact of company financials on employee decisions.

Running head: CIPD
CIPD Certification Module 2
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

1CIPD
Assignment – 3MER Part C
AC. 3.1 Fair and Unfair Dismissals
While hiring a person for a certain job role, the responsibilities and rules of the company
are explained. When an organisation is in the service industry like in the case of the water park, it
is important for an employee to be courteous and welcoming to the guests (Pérez and Osuna
2014).
A fair dismissal is said to be when a person is fired from his or her position because they
have been underperforming or is acting against the culture or the regulations of the company.
The company as well as the employee is bound with the legal boundaries and both have to
comply by the contract that is signed by both the parties (Pérez and Osuna 2014). When a person
is dismissed because of a reason which is justified and the circumstances are agreed upon by the
boundaries of the contract then it can be said to be a fair dismissal. Some of the reasons which
are considered to be potentially fair in the process of dismissal are:
 Misconduct of the employee for example: theft or bad behavior.
 If the employee is not performing according to the KIPs that has been allocated
for a significant period of time even after being repeatedly reviewed.
 If the business is insolvent or has become redundancy
 Any kind of statutory restriction from the work for example if the license if
confiscated (Pérez and Osuna 2014)
A dismissal is said to be unfair when a person is removed from the position without
intimation or any kind of justification. If the reason of dismissal is not under the above state

2CIPD
circumstances then it can be said to be unfair. It is also an unfair dismissal if the employer is not
following disciplinary actions. In the case of the water park it should be analyzed why the person
had behaved rudely with the guest, as he or she is aware of the protocols of the company. It can
also be the case that the guests had behaved badly as well (Pérez and Osuna 2014). However, if
the company has dismissed the person without investigating the matter then it is an unfair
dismissal (Brown et al. 1997).
AC.3.2 Importance of exit interview
While a person is associated with a company he or she is the responsibility of the
company. Organisation invest significant amount of labour, resource etc on a person and
therefore an organisation will always want to retain the employees (Schippmann 2013).
Employee turnover is regarded as a cost to the company and organisation along with their human
resource management strives to reduce this cost (Schippmann 2013). In order to understand the
trend the company can track the records of the employees to gather information regarding the
reason for them to leave the job. This will provide insights and idea regarding the gap in the
process and will help the company to develop policies which will fill up this gap. Exist interview
is the face to face session with the supervisor as well as the human resource manager and the
employee who has resigned to understand the issue and grievances of the person. This is a good
source of information to understand the reasons why people are leaving the job. If the reason that
is stated by the people back to back is similar in nature then the company should infer that the
issue is within the process and things have to change in the future (Schippmann 2013).
The questions that are formulated in the exit interview should be such that it is insightful
for the management of the company to understand the issues and grievances of the people and to

3CIPD
understand the reasons for which the employee has chosen to leave the organisation (Smith and
Kerr 1953). In this way an exist interview can also help the company to improve the policies and
human resource decisions so that the cost of employee turnover is reduced, while taking the exits
interview the company should ask for feedbacks in order to improve the performance of the
employees. Job satisfaction is one of the main reasons why an employee leaves the organisation.
Thus the company should ensure that the people working in the organization are satisfied with
the job roles in order to reduce the employee turnover (Smith and Kerr 1953).
AC 3.3 Process of turning employees redundant
Redundancy is said to be when the employer chooses to reduce the workforce because of
some genuine reasons. This cannot be claimed as unfair dismissal as one of the many reasons
why a company decides to take such an action is because of financial incapability (Luan et al.
2013). This is the case with the water park owner as well. There are certainly some of the
important steps that the management of an organisation should consider in order to avoid
litigation in the process by the employees who are being laid off (Van Dierendonck and Jacobs
2012).
Notification and communication of the action: the people who are going to be impacted from the
process should be notified earlier, they should be given a chance to take care of their financial
positions as a job is a financial security. The process will come across like a conflict however, it
is important to maintain transparency with the people in order to respect their hard work and
tenure that they have served with the company (Luan et al. 2013).

4CIPD
Time: The people who are chosen to be declared as redundant should be informed prior to the
dismissal as they must be provided with an n opportunity to find another suitable job for
themselves (Luan et al. 2013).
Reason: There should be complete disclosure of the reason of the dismissal. As in this case the
financial condition of the company is not healthy and thus it is difficult for the owner to pay the
remuneration and keep their jobs (Van Dierendonck and Jacobs 2012). This message must be
clear with the people who are being dismissed. This lowers the chances of conflict among the
people as the capability of the company does not permit the load of the workforce. It is important
to explain rationally the conditions in order to make the people understand the situation. There
are chances of emotional breakdown and conflict in the meeting however, as the management it
is the responsibility to take care of the Human Resource of the organisation (Van Dierendonck
and Jacobs 2012).
Additional requirement:
Most of the time it is the perspective of the employees that are showcased in case there is
a dismissal or a case of redundancy, however, after reading the module I have learnt about the
perspective of the companies as well. I think an exit interview is very important for a company to
know the issues and understand where the company stands in the perspective of the employees.
The employees are an important stakeholder as well as a representative of the organisation hence
it is significant to take in account the ideas and views of the employee.

5CIPD
Reference list:
Brown, S., Frick, B. and Sessions, J., 1997. Unemployment, vacancies and unfair
dismissals. Labour, 11(2), pp.329-349.
Luan, C.J., Tien, C. and Chi, Y.C., 2013. Downsizing to the wrong size? A study of the impact
of downsizing on firm performance during an economic downturn. The International Journal of
Human Resource Management, 24(7), pp.1519-1535.
Pérez, J.I.G. and Osuna, V., 2014. Dual labour markets and the tenure distribution: Reducing
severance pay or introducing a single contract. Labour Economics, 29, pp.1-13.
Schippmann, J.S., 2013. Strategic job modeling: Working at the core of integrated human
resources. Psychology Press.
Smith, F.J. and Kerr, W.A., 1953. Turnover factors as assessed by the exit interview. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 37(5), p.352.
Van Dierendonck, D. and Jacobs, G., 2012. Survivors and victims, a meta‐analytical review of
fairness and organizational commitment after downsizing. British Journal of
Management, 23(1), pp.96-109.