Case 1400340/2020 · Employment Tribunal
Unite the Union v Thomas Cook Airlines Ltd (In Compulsory Liquidation) and 2 others — 2021
- Case reference
- 1400340/2020
- Decision date
- 28 July 2021
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge Ainscough Date
Parties
4 namedKey findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe judgment was issued under rule 21 because the first and second respondents did not present a response, the Official Receiver confirmed the protective award claims would not be contested, and the Secretary of State made legal submissions before judgment. The first and second respondents were in compulsory liquidation, and the High Court had granted permission for the claims to proceed.
The Tribunal found that the first and second respondents employed more than 20 employees at Bristol Airport and Cardiff Airport, and that Unite the Union was recognised for collective bargaining at both sites for relevant groups of employees. The respondents went into compulsory liquidation on 23 September 2019, the Official Receiver was appointed at 1:47am, and employees were later notified that day of immediate termination.
The Tribunal found there had been no proper warning, notice, or consultation with the recognised trade unions, and no employee representatives had been elected or appointed for consultation under section 188A. It held that the first and second respondents were in breach of section 188 of the 1992 Act and made a protective award for the maximum protected period of 90 days beginning on 23 September 2019, subject to the recoupment regulations.
Claims and outcomes
1 finding recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other | Protective award claim under section 189 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 for alleged failure to comply with collective consultation requirements under section 188. Classified as other because the locked taxonomy has no specific protective award or collective redundancy consultation category, and this was not a statutory redundancy pay claim. | Upheld | — | — |
Legal tests applied
4 references- Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013 - Rule 21
- section 188 Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992
- section 189 Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992
- section 188A Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we got this data
Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.
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