Retrenched While The Company Keeps Hiring
New job postings soon after your exit can undermine the reason you were given.
What Does It Mean If Your Company Keeps Hiring After Retrenching You?
It can suggest the redundancy given as the reason for your dismissal was not genuine.
Retrenchment is supposed to address a real reduction in need for a role, and the selection within that reduction should follow a reasonable, explainable method such as Last In First Out 1.
A new posting for a role very close to the one you left, appearing soon afterward, sits uneasily with that explanation.
It does not automatically prove anything by itself, but it is a strong piece of the wider picture worth examining closely.
How To Tell If The New Role Actually Matches Yours
Compare the job description of the new posting against your own former duties and requirements, not just the title used.
Note how soon after your exit the posting appeared, and whether it sits within the same team or department.
Save a copy of the posting itself, since listings can be taken down or edited later.
Whatever the explanation given, the employer still carries the burden of proving the dismissal was for just cause if it is later challenged 2.
What To Do If This Matches Your Situation
Take a screenshot or save a copy of the job posting as soon as you notice it.
Write down the timeline: the date of your retrenchment and the date the new posting appeared.
Read about what makes a retrenchment genuinely fair so you can weigh this detail against the wider picture.
An employment lawyer can assess whether the new role is similar enough to support a challenge to your retrenchment.
It is also worth checking whether the posting came from the same hiring manager or department that made the retrenchment decision.
A posting from an entirely unconnected part of the business carries less weight than one from your own former team or reporting line.
If the company uses a recruitment agency, checking whether the agency was given a job description close to your own former role can add further useful detail.
Save any correspondence you have with recruiters or the company about the new role, since this can become relevant later.
Patterns like this are not always obvious at first glance.
A closer look often reveals more than an initial impression suggests.
A pattern worth checking is a pattern worth saving evidence for.
If you have noticed hiring for a role similar to yours, saving the posting and reviewing it with an employment lawyer is a sensible next step.
Common questions
Does hiring for a different department mean my retrenchment was unfair?
Not automatically. Hiring for a genuinely unrelated role in a different part of the business is less significant than hiring for a role very similar to the one that was made redundant. The comparison has to be close to matter.
How soon after my exit does new hiring become suspicious?
There is no fixed cutoff, but a posting that appears within weeks, for a role that looks similar to yours, is worth documenting and raising directly. The closer in time and function, the more relevant it becomes.
What if the new role has a different job title?
A different title with substantially the same duties and requirements is still worth raising, since employers sometimes relabel a role rather than genuinely eliminate it. Compare the actual job description, not just the title.
Should I apply for the new role myself?
That is a personal decision, and there is no single right answer. Some workers do apply, which can itself become part of the evidence about how similar the roles really are.
Sources
- Retrenchment must be for a genuine redundancy, and Last In First Out is the conventional principle for selecting who is retrenched within an affected category. Richard Wee Chambers
- The burden falls on the employer, not the employee, to prove the dismissal was for just cause or excuse. Mah Weng Kwai & Associates
Keep reading
If you have noticed hiring for a role similar to yours, saving the posting and reviewing it with an employment lawyer is a sensible next step.