Philip is an Associate in the Disputes Group at Addleshaw Goddard (Ireland) LLP and is part of the Employment Group. He primarily advises employers on all aspects of the employment relationship, both contentious and non-contentious. Philip has a particular focus on advising corporate clients on both the buy and sale side on the employment aspects of corporate transactions, including share and asset sales. Philip also works closely with our Insolvency and Restructuring Group in advising insolvency practitioners on the employment considerations in corporate restructurings including liquidations, examinerships and receiverships. Philip has extensive experience advising clients on best practice contractual and policy reviews, as well as regularly advising clients on redundancy, grievance and disciplinary processes. The Employment Group have also been involved in a number of cases involving employment status, protected disclosures and extensive workplace investigations.
Kate is a Legal Director and is a senior member of the AG employment law team and part of the wider Disputes Group. Kate has extensive experience advising employers on all aspects of the employment relationship. This includes both non-contentious and contentious matters.
Kate predominantly advises commercial clients, mainly international organisations, on a full range of employment law issues including workplace investigations, capability issues, unfair dismissal, discrimination, TUPE, senior executive exits, business reorganisation involving redundancy and collective redundancy processes.
Kate has a particular interest in workplace investigations and specifically in advising clients on complex workplace investigations including investigations involving protected disclosures. Kate regularly speaks on employment law topics at firm events and external training events.
Kate is currently advising clients on a number of complex cases involving capability and reasonable accommodation issues.
In Ireland there have been long-standing challenges with Irish collective redundancy legislation, particularly where businesses are in financial distress. These challenges were highlighted in high profile cases involving the retail sector where stores were closed with limited or no engagement with employee representatives.
In this article Philip Gray of Addleshaw Goddard looks at some significant developments that have occurred over the past 12 months that HR advisors and Insolvency Practitioners alike should be aware of when dealing with possible collective redundancies in an insolvency situation.
Collective redundancy obligations
In Ireland collective redundancy situations are governed by the Protection of Employment Act, 1977- 2014 (1977 Act). The 1977 Act sets out different thresholds and provides that where the number of proposed redundancies exceeds the required thresholds in any 30-day period a collective redundancy situation exists.
Where a collective redundancy situation is likely to occur, there are a number of key obligations on an employer. In the first instance the employer must notify the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment of the proposed redundancies at least 30 days before any notice of redundancy is given to an employee and in any event “at the earliest opportunity”.
The employer must also commence an information and consultation process with employee representatives on behalf of the employees with the purpose of the consultation process being “to reach an agreement”. Again, the employer is required to start the information and consultation process at least at least 30 days before any notice of redundancy is given to an employee and in any event “at the earliest opportunity”.
Crucially, an employer is prevented from making any employee redundant or serving notice of redundancy within the 30-day period following notification to the Minister.
Changes introduced by the Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Act 2024 (the 2024 Act)
Following a number of high-profile cases the 2024 Act was introduced into Irish law and sought to enhance employee protections in collective redundancy situations involving the insolvency of employers by imposing obligations on insolvency practitioners and amending the 1977 Act.
A significant change introduced by the 2024 Act is the removal of the exemption under the 1977 Act requiring insolvent employers to comply with the obligations in a collective redundancy situation. Under the 2024 Act Insolvency Practitioners (such as liquidators) are now deemed to be a ‘responsible person’ and are therefore obliged to provide information to employee representatives on the proposed redundancies, consult with the employee representatives for the 30-day period and notify the Minister of the proposed collective redundancy situation.
The 2024 Act now provides that an employee can bring a claim to the Workplace Relations Commission if they are dismissed before the expiry of the 30-day information and consultation period and employees could be awarded up to four weeks remuneration for this technical breach.
Insolvency Practitioners are also now open to potential personal sanctions (civil and criminal) for breaches of the collective redundancy regime. Under the 2024 Act, it is now an offence for a responsible person to fail to comply with the consultation, information and notification requirements set out above. On summary conviction this can result in a responsible person being liable to a class A fine of up to €5,000.
Non-compliance with the requirement not to effect redundancies prior to the expiry of the 30-day period following notification to the Minister is also an offence and a responsible person is liable on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €250,000.
Key High Court Judgment on information and consultation obligations
In April 2020 the retailer Debenhams Retail Ireland Limited (Debenhams) announced it intended to cease trading in Ireland and notified its large workforce of the possibility of collective redundancies following the appointment of joint provisional liquidators by the High Court. The collective redundancy process was fraught and resulted in hundreds of claims being brought to the WRC by employees of Debenhams in relation to its information and consultation obligations under section 9 and 10 of the 1977 Act. The WRC agreed that a test case would be heard due to the volume of claims brought. In the test case the Claimant alleged that Debenhams had breached its obligations in relation to the information and consultation process as it failed to engage in ‘meaningful’ consultation and it should have commenced the consultation processes sooner.
In March 2025, the High Court reversed a decision of the Labour Court (on appeal from the WRC) in relation to this test case. In this case, the Board of Debenhams was informed on 8 April 2020 that its financial support was being pulled by its UK parent company, thereby rendering it insolvent. The following day (9 April 2020), the Board recommended the winding up of the Company. Informal information communications were made between the Debenhams and a trade union representative in the days that followed but the first formal communication was issued to employees by letter dated 14 April 2020 and the first consultation meeting was held on 17 April 2020.
The WRC found that Debenhams should have started the consultation process with the impacted employees earlier than it did and that it failed to hold meaningful consultations in good time and at the earliest opportunity. This decision in relation to the timing of the consultation was upheld by the Labour Court on appeal who determined that the consultations began on the date of the first consultation meeting between the union representatives, the Board of Directors and the provisional liquidators (being the 17 April 2020) and not the date on which a letter was issued by Debenhams to the trade union representative (being 14 April 2020). The Labour Court found that Debenhams had met its obligations in relation to meaningful consultation under section 10 of the 1977 Act.
The Company appealed the decision in relation to the timing of the consultation process under section 9 of the 1977 Act to the High Court on a point of law. The High Court agreed with the decision of the Labour Court that the obligation to consult arose on 9 April 2020 after the Board of Directors had resolved to wind up the Company. However, the High Court disagreed with the Labour Court and held that the consultation process started with the letter to all employees on 14 April 2020 rather than the first consultation meeting on 17 April 2020. Even though the letter of 14 April 2020 did not specifically refer to the term “consultation”, the letter did identify that all roles were at risk of redundancy and it did set out the information dictated by section 10 of the 1977 Act. The High Court also determined that the Claimant had not suffered any loss by the delay in commencing the consultation process and highlighted that the power to award compensation under the 1977 Act is ‘not the imposition of a penalty against the employer’.
This judgement is important as it provides clarity for employers and insolvency practitioners on the connection between the provision of information and commencement of the consultation process in a collective redundancy process. It also highlights the importance of commencing the information and consultation process at the earliest possible time.
This article was provided by Philip Gray and Kate Field of Addleshaw Goddard (Ireland) LLP.
Addleshaw Goddard (Ireland) LLP
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