Carol Bell v P.F. Burridge & Sons Limited (in administration) — 2021

Carol Bell was employed as an Administrative Assistant at the Respondent’s Newcastle premises. On 17 March 2020 she and the other employees on site were told that their employment was terminated with immediate effect by reason of redundancy because the business was closing. The tribunal recorded that there had been no prior warning and no appropriate representatives at the workplace.

The Claimant presented her claim on 17 June 2020. Because the Respondent was in administration, the Claimant sought and obtained the Administrator’s consent to continue with the protective award claim on 5 October 2020. No response was presented, so the matter was determined under rule 21 of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013 on the available material.

The tribunal found that the Respondent took no steps to inform or consult the Claimant or others in accordance with its duty under section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. It held that there had been a total failure to comply with that duty and that a protective award was justified.

The judgment declares the section 189 claim well founded and makes a protective award in respect of the Claimant. The protected period was held to begin on 17 March 2020 and to last for 90 days, with remuneration ordered for that protected period. The extracted text does not state a monetary total for the award.