The Claimant was a senior manager at Samsung. As part of a company restructure, his role was one of four to be abolished and merged into a single Head of Sales position. He applied for this role, but didn't score highly enough on a core competencies test. He then applied for a team leader role but was unsuccessful and Samsung appointed an external applicant to the role. The Claimant was dismissed for redundancy and brought an unfair dismissal claim.
The employment tribunal upheld the claim. It said that there had been inadequate consultation and the criteria for selection for the new roles were too subjective.
This was overturned on appeal, with the Employment Appeal Tribunal finding for Samsung. Subjectivity can be allowed where the employer is interviewing for a vacancy, as opposed to selecting for redundancy from a pool of employees. Some element of subjectivity is inevitable, it said.
While this case favours employers in their search for the 'right' person, perhaps even enabling them to assess an individual's qualities as well as their qualifications and experience, treat it with some caution. Appointing external candidates without first properly assessing employees who are at risk of redundancy is a dangerous strategy.
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