THE Jersey Advisory and Conciliation Service has seen a three-fold increase in inquiries about redundancy since the start of the year.

JACS director David Witherington says that around 15% of people coming through the door now are seeking advice about job cuts, compared to 5% last year. ‘Mainly we are seeing employers who are asking how to carry out redundancies fairly, and employees asking about their rights,’ said Mr Witherington.

Currently Jersey does not have any law on redundancy, but it is included in the Employment Law as one of five ‘fair’ reasons to dismiss staff. If employees believe they have been dismissed unfairly they can appeal to the Employment Tribunal.

A draft redundancy law is currently in progress and is due to be presented for States debate by the Minister for Social Security in the next few months. Speaking at a seminar last week, Mr Witherington said he believed that the recent case of the staff from Woolworths had pushed the law forward.

• Picture: David Witherington. Picture by Jon Guegan (00624428)