{"id":494228,"date":"2026-05-20T14:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T14:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/494228\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T14:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T14:28:18","slug":"a-charity-made-me-redundant-and-hired-someone-else-does-this-sound-right-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/494228\/","title":{"rendered":"A charity made\u00a0me redundant and hired someone else. Does this sound right? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

I worked for a registered charity and was notified that my role was at risk of <\/b>redundancy<\/b><\/a> before Christmas. Two consultation meetings were scheduled in rapid succession that same week, with a third arranged in the new year. There appeared to be considerable urgency to conclude the process before a new hire replacement commenced in early January.<\/b><\/p>\n

The new hire has a different title but it\u2019s the same <\/b>role with some additional responsibilities.<\/b><\/p>\n

During consultation, it emerged that my former employer previously sanctioned a confidential recruitment process, yet I was not informed of any risk to my position until the consultation began in December.<\/b><\/p>\n

I asked about selection criteria for redundancy, but wasn\u2019t given an answer. By the time of the third meeting, I was on certified sick leave with the shear stress of the situation.<\/b><\/p>\n

The sick leave certificate was ignored and the final consultation proceeded without me. My employment was terminated the following day, with no appeal mechanism offered.<\/b><\/p>\n

There was no option for me to stay and it moved really fast. Does this sound right and if not, what can I do about this?<\/b><\/p>\n

Based on the information given, the reader could lodge a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission<\/a> (WRC), according to Michelle Halloran, independent HR consultant and workplace investigator.<\/p>\n

Although the consultation process appears to have been \u201csomewhat rushed\u201d, Halloran says the main concern is that the employer hired someone else and \u201cde facto replaced this person who was made redundant\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat, to me, sounds very suspicious,\u201d she says, noting that the reader\u2019s account suggests a recruitment process was done \u201cunder a cloak of secrecy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cA redundancy situation is about the role and not the person. You have to make a person redundant because there is no longer a viable reason for their role to exist,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a role is made redundant, you can\u2019t put somebody else into it,\u201d she says, adding that the reader\u2019s experience \u201csounds suspicious\u201d because the employer added some additional responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds like there is a case to argue there that this person has been unfairly made redundant, unfairly dismissed,\u201d she says, adding that complaints must be made to the WRC within six months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe burden of proof falls on the employer,\u201d Halloran says, though the reader should maintain any supporting evidence or documentation if they opt to pursue this route.<\/p>\n

The employer could argue they were restructuring and combining two roles, though it appears that none of this was explained to the reader, she says.<\/p>\n

Remarking how the employer appears to have ignored the reader\u2019s illness and \u201cwent ahead without them\u201d, Halloran says it is \u201cvery poor practice\u201d and inappropriate to make an employee redundant while on sick leave.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0My redundancy was fraught with error. Can I seek compensation?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Regardless of the reader\u2019s employment by a charity, redundancy laws apply \u201cacross the board\u201d, according to Moira Grassick, chief operations officer at employment law and HR firm Peninsula Ireland.<\/p>\n

Noting that the consultation process appears to have been somewhat hasty, Grassick says employers should give at least a week between meetings to give employees time to gather their thoughts and allow them to put forward an argument as to why their role should not be made redundant.<\/p>\n

Taking sick leave due to stress associated with the news of potential redundancy is not \u201ccompletely unusual\u201d and the employer \u201cshould have given them the time to recover\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n

If the reader was not forewarned that a decision might be made in their absence, \u201cthat could definitely be seen as being unfair\u201d, Grassick says.<\/p>\n

The employer could have afforded them an alternative way to communicate before the final meeting while on sick leave, such as a written submission.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the redundancy process should ensure an employee has been given every opportunity to save their job or suggest alternatives, she says.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I returned to work after maternity leave and was issued with a notice of redundancy\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Open vacancies should also be shared with any individual facing redundancy, Grassick adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of whether that role was the same as theirs, maybe at a more senior level or with additional responsibilities, they still should have been given the opportunity to apply for it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Like Halloran, Grassick says the reader could make a claim through the WRC, potentially arguing unfair selection for redundancy or an unfair dismissal if the reader worked there for more than 12 months.<\/p>\n

If you have work-related questions, from how to deal with burnout to running your own business, The Irish Times Work Q&A column is here to help. You can use the form below to submit your question. Please limit your submissions to 400 words or less and please include a phone number. Your name and contact details will be confidential and only be used for verification purposes. Any details about your employer will also be anonymised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I worked for a registered charity and was notified that my role was at risk of redundancy before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,19,17,80,162346,81],"class_list":["post-494228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-work","tag-work-q-a","tag-workplace-relations-commission"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116607379620109637","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}