Unite Legal Services and Thompsons Solicitors successfully secured compensation for six people from Wolverhampton in an employment rights compensation claim, after the manufacturer they worked for failed to comply with trade union laws when making them redundant.
The firm made 21 members of staff redundant in August 2016. Thompsons Solicitors supported Unite the union and six of its members who were being made redundant in an employment tribunal, which found that the employer had failed to comply with the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
The law states that, if an employer is proposing to make at least 20 employees redundant, they are duty-bound to involve appropriate representatives, such as a trade union, in the consultation process. Details of what constitutes meaningful consultations are also stipulated in the Act. The firm closed down without contacting the union, so ‘meaningful consultations’ did not occur.
Unite the union and Thompsons Solicitors supported the six trade union members facing redundancy – some of whom have dyslexia, visual impairments, and difficulties reading – to secure an award of 90 days’ pay.
“The employer decided to shut up shop before speaking with us, leaving our members unsure of what would happen next,” said Caroline Crolley, regional officer at Unite the union’s Wolverhampton office. “Some of the members we represented had been in their role for several years and, because of their impairments, would struggle with alternative employment.
“We felt it vital that our member’s legal rights were upheld after they were made redundant.”