In Mental Health Care (UK) Ltd v Biluan and another, the EAT considered whether it was fair to use a series of competency tests normally used for the purposes of recruitment for a redundancy selection procedure.
The claimants were employed at a hospital. In 2010 the hospital decided to close a ward, resulting in 19 redundancies. The pool for redundancies comprised all nursing and support staff. Three criteria were included in the selection process: competency assessment, disciplinary record, and sickness absence record. The criteria were weighted, with the competency assessment being the most important. This assessment was the same one used for the hospital's recruitment process, involving a written test, individual interviews and group exercises. It was conducted by HR staff who did not know the employees, without input from their line managers. Because of the relative weighting, in most cases the competency assessment proved decisive. This produced some surprising results, with some good workers being selected for redundancy. Two claimants brought successful unfair dismissal claims against the hospital arising out of their selection for redundancy.
The EAT upheld the finding of unfair dismissal, criticising the selection criteria and its application. It was particularly critical of the lack of input from line managers and the failure to refer to past performance appraisals.
Using a recruitment style assessment centre will not generally be appropriate for a redundancy selection process. Although the EAT recognised in this case that the hospital had gone to great lengths to organise the redundancy procedure efficiently, it was critical of the lack of input from managers who knew the employees personally and of a blind faith in the process which had led to a loss of common sense and fairness.
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