Miss J Brodie, Solicitor For the v Pittards plc (In Administration) — 2024

Mr Philip Selby was a salaried employee of Pittards plc at its Sherborne Road premises in Yeovil. Pittards entered administration on 4 September 2023, and on 6 September 2023 the administrators dismissed all 139 employees, including the claimant, by reason of redundancy with immediate effect. The Community Union was recognised for collective bargaining in respect of hourly paid leather workers, but that did not include the claimant. No elected employee representatives were in place.

The Employment Judge found that the respondent failed to undertake any adequate consultation before the dismissals and did not arrange the election or appointment of employee representatives for the purposes of collective consultation. The judgment set out the statutory framework in section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, including the duty to consult appropriate representatives where 20 or more redundancies are proposed at one establishment, the requirement to begin consultation in good time, and the requirement to consult about avoiding, reducing and mitigating dismissals.

The tribunal held that the complaint that the respondent failed to comply with section 188 was well founded. It therefore made a protective award in respect of the claimant and ordered remuneration for the protected period of 90 days beginning on 6 September 2023. The extracted text does not state a single quantified monetary total for the award.