Mrs L Oldroyd and others v Monsoon Accessorise Ltd (In Administration) — 2021

The Tribunal heard evidence from Louise Oldroyd on behalf of all 11 claimants concerning the respondent's York store, which closed on 10 June 2020. Mrs Oldroyd was the store manager. The respondent did not appear. The Tribunal recorded that the Administrator had consented to the protective award proceedings, but had not consented to the holiday pay claims.

For the protective award claim, the Tribunal applied section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and referred to USDAW v WW Realisation 1 Ltd [2015] 577 on the meaning of "establishment". It held that each store was a separate establishment, so the collective consultation rules did not apply to stores with fewer than 20 employees made redundant within the relevant period. On the facts found, the York store had 14 employees, so the claims for protective awards for failure to consult were dismissed.

The holiday pay claims were also dismissed, but on a procedural basis rather than on their merits. The Tribunal held that the Administrator had not given consent to the commencement or continuation of those proceedings. It therefore did not determine the substance of the outstanding holiday pay claims.

The Tribunal said it had considerable sympathy with the claimants and that it took no pleasure in dismissing the claims, but it was unable to find in their favour because the collective consultation requirement did not apply and the holiday pay claims lacked the required consent to proceed.