WOOLWORTH group workers win redundancy consultation claim.
In a unanimous judgment the London Central Employment Tribunal has awarded payments to former Woolworth group employees, following the collapse of the High Street giant.
Pattinson & Brewer, solicitors, representing 400 former employees who were also Unite members, argued that EUK – a wholly owned subsidiary company of Woolworth which went into liquidation at the same time as the parent company – failed to consult with its workers before making them redundant.
Solicitor Felicia Epstein of Pattinson and Brewer said:
“The EUK insolvency practitioners should have consulted with the employees when they knew about the redundancies, but failed to do so. This duty is clearly set out in section 188 of Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULCRA).The Insolvency Service will now make partial payments, and the employees will become creditors with the EUK liquidators for the remainder of the award. As a result of this settlement the taxpayer will have to foot the bill for the mistake of the Insolvency Practicioners handling the liquidation.”
As a result of this case more than 700 employees benefited from the decision of the Tribunal, chaired by Employment Judge Lewzy, by being awarded the maximum amount provided for under the law.
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Pattinson & Brewer media relations: Denise Kitchener
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Editors Notes:
Pattinson & Brewer, “the claimant’s champion”, is a leading UK law firm with offices in London, Bristol and York. Since its foundation in 1891 the firm has established a proud reputation for winning compensation for ordinary working people and now acts on behalf of the public and union members in employment disputes, personal injury, accident and occupational disease actions. It also has a remarkable record in successfully handling complex medical negligence and catastrophic injury cases. All its partners are passionately committed to accessing justice and fairness for their individual clients.
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