Mr R Johnson v Tolent Construction Limited “In Administration” — 2024

Mr R Johnson brought a claim for a protective award on 22 March 2023. Tolent Construction Limited entered administration on 13 February 2023, and the administrator filed a response stating that the respondent did not intend to defend the claim and agreed to the lifting of the moratorium so that the protective award claim only could proceed. The Secretary of State for Business and Trade was joined as an interested party under Rule 96.

The Tribunal found that in February 2023 the respondent proposed to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees at Colton House, Bullerthorpe Lane, Leeds, with the first dismissal taking effect on 13 February 2023. It found that there was no proper warning or consultation with a recognised trade union or the claimant, no consultation with the claimants, and no employee representatives had been elected or appointed for consultation within section 188A of the 1992 Act.

The claim under section 189 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 was held to be well-founded because the respondent was in breach of the duty under section 188. The Tribunal made a protective award for the maximum protected period of 90 days commencing on 13 February 2023, equivalent to remuneration for that period. The Employment Protection (Recoupment of Jobseekers Allowance and Income Support) Regulations 1996 apply, and the judgment records that payment under the protective award is subject to the recoupment notice process.

The judgment was entered without a hearing under Rule 21 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2013 because the respondent had indicated that it did not wish to defend the claims. The matter was determined on the papers, with no face-to-face hearing held because it was not practicable, no-one requested one, and all issues could be determined on the papers.