What happens if I reject a suitable alternative role?


Where a suitable alternative role is offered to you, any unreasonable rejection of this offer on your part means that you will forfeit your right to a redundancy payment.

Where suitable alternative employment is offered, it should be subject to a trial period if the terms of the new employment differ from your existing terms. The suitability of an alternative role will be judged objectively, having regard to your skills, aptitudes and experiences and whether the terms of the alternative job compare with the previous role (including status, place of work, tasks, pay, hours etc.). Once these objective criteria have been considered, it must then be determined that the alternative employment is suitable for you specifically (a subjective test). When considering whether it is reasonable for an employee to turn down a suitable offer, the following factors would be considered:

  • The circumstances in which the offer is made (e.g. has sufficient time been given for consideration or the employer’s motives or behaviour)
  • The duration of the alternative offer
  • The employee’s personal situation (e.g. if the employee has a “good” reason for not wanting to relocate or if there is an increase in time or cost to travel to a new workplace).

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