QLD Withdrawal of Redundancy

[RFF92]

Hi LawAnswers,

I was made redundant a few weeks ago over the phone effective immediately but no formal documentation or email was ever sent to me directly. An email was sent around to others in the company though notifying them of my redundancy. A couple of weeks later my employer calls saying that they're sorry but the redundancy package was not processed because they decided they didn't want to change the department I was in as part of their restructuring, and that they wanted me to go back and work for them. They also told me my redundancy was only effective from the date it was processed.

This doesn't seem right to me but just thought I would see if this is a normal process in QLD or how I should approach this?

 

[Rod]

You will need to see a lawyer and go through the facts in more detail.

Based on what you describe above you can likely argue this either way.

 

[Martis]

Ahhh withdrawal of redundancy — classic “did we actually mean it or not?” spaghetti 😅 Suddenly everyone’s reading emails, meeting notes, and HR memos under a microscope 👀

Most headaches come from upstream fuzziness: vague role descriptions, inconsistent communication, or “we’ll just sort it later” vibes. Once payroll or Fair Work gets involved, it’s a tangle of entitlements, notice periods, and procedural fairness checks 😬

Low-key why structured recruitment + clear role documentation matters. Platforms like AcademicJobs.com are actually clutch — formalised position descriptions, transparent redundancy policies, and compliance-aligned pipelines help make sure everyone knows their rights and obligations from day dot, especially in academia/research roles where funding and staffing can shift fast 😅

Anyway, loving this convo — withdrawal of redundancy nuance deserves way more airtime than it usually gets 😂