In Readman v Devon Primary Care Trust UKEAT/0016/11/ZT, the EAT have re-visited how to determine whether an employee has acted unreasonably in refusing suitable alternative employment so that they forfeited their right to statutory redundancy pay. 

Deciding whether or not an alternative role is suitable is an objective test (analysing the employee's skills and experience) but the question of whether an employee's refusal to accept the alternative role is reasonable is a subjective test which requires consideration of the employee's individual circumstances. 

In this case, Mrs Readman ("Claimant") was a nurse who had spent most of her career working in the community. She was offered and worked a statutory trial period in a lower grade position but she decided it wasn't suitable and resigned.  Subsequently, she was offered a role at her original grade as a matron in a hospital but turned it down as she didn't want to work in a hospital environment as she had previously worked in the community.

The EAT said that although the matron role did constitute suitable alternative employment, she acted reasonably in refusing the role. The EAT referred to the Claimant's career path and qualifications which were focussed on community nursing rather than a hospital setting.

Key take-aways from this decision:

  • The test involves passing both objective and subjective hurdles; this means that even if a role satisfies the objective test i.e. objectively qualifies as a suitable alternative role because it has same status and remuneration levels, it does not follow that the subjective test will automatically be passed i.e. an employee could still be held to be acting reasonably in refusing the offer due to personal reasons, which means that they may still be entitled to a statutory redundancy pay; and
  • We would recommend asking an employee who refuses a suitable alternative role to specify the reasons behind their refusal. This provides you with an opportunity to assess how reasonable their refusal actually is.

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