Q: Can you please give me a guideline on what the period must be between making a position redundant and advertising again to fill that position? This has occurred because the market has changed and a need has been identified to fill the position again.

A: By way of general guidance, there is no specific time limit or general rule of thumb to speak of. However, the closer the two events are, the greater the risk that a retrenched employee may claim that their redundancy was not genuine, and thus make an unfair dismissal claim.

Generally, employees will have 21 days from the date their position was made redundant (unless granted an extension of time by the Fair Work Commission) to lodge an unfair dismissal claim.

If you are looking to employ someone in the position, you should ensure that you can make a genuine business case for why the person was made redundant in the first place and what has changed now.

Please note: The answer is correct at the time of publishing. Be aware that laws may change over time. Refer to Redundancy and retrenchment for current advice.