In a statement released on Monday, Boeing announced plans to cut around 2,000 jobs this year.
The job cuts will primarily be in the company’s finance and human resources departments.
This statement comes after the Virginia-based company announced that it would be hiring 15,000 people in 2022.
Monday’s statement read: “While no one has been notified of job loss, we will continue to share information transparently to allow people to plan.”
However, they also hope to “ hire another 10,000 employees this year with a focus on engineering and manufacturing.”
The report added that they will “continue to simplify [their] corporate structure.” Last month, Boeing said it will “lower staffing within some support functions.”
What do employers need to know about redundancies?
WEALTH at work have provided an overview of some of the key areas that employees will need to understand if they are made redundant:
If an employer makes a job role redundant forcing an employee to leave the company, they may be entitled to redundancy pay. Redundancy packages are not set in stone, they vary according to the company but are also based on age, length of employment, and job role. For those who have been in the same job for at least two years, their employer is usually legally required to pay them.
The legal minimum is called ‘Statutory redundancy pay’ however it is vital for employees to check their contracts as they may be entitled to more. There are also plenty of online resources such as GOV.UK or Money Helper, which can help employees understand their rights.
Taxation on redundancy payment
It is important employees understand how much they will actually receive once tax has been paid. Usually, the first £30k is tax free, with anything over this being added to your income and charged at the marginal rate. They should be aware that employee National Insurance is not deducted from a redundancy payment. For example, someone who has an annual salary of £36k, has earned £15k so far this tax year and is offered £50k redundancy would owe £4,000 in tax on their redundancy pay.
This is because the first £30k of their redundancy pay is tax free but the remaining £20k is taxable. As they have earned £15k so far this year, even with the £20k added to this, they are still within the basic rate tax band, so a tax of £4,000 is due on the redundancy pay (20% of £20k). Employees should also consider whether they could end up in a higher rate tax bracket, depending on their income and redundancy pay.
Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.
