The curious working of a curious Act

That naïve piece of legislation, the Redundancy Payments Act of 1965, established the system by which employers pay monetary compensation to employees whom they make redundant, being partly reimbursed from the Redundancy Fund if they satisfy certain conditions. The size of the redundancy payments is related to the rate of pay, length of service with that employer and the age of the claimant. Perhaps artlessly, although in the best traditions of modern employment legislation, provision is made in the Act for appeals to be heard by those busy little bodies, the Industrial Tribunals. This apparently simple and just plan soon headed for problems; the Fund itself did not take long to go into the red and in the tribunals and courts legal technicalities reared their irritating heads. Even in the factories the unexpected happened, for in areas of low unemployment, to be declared redundant sometimes became a privilege; shop stewards demanded that those with the longest service should get the first chance of redundancy on the surprising basis of first in — first out. To study and report upon the working of the Act is a major undertaking and here it is proposed merely to look at some salient aspects which are of particular interest to management in general.