Mr V Bamboat v Dawnfresh Seafoods Limited (in administration) — 2022

Mr V Bamboat was employed by Dawnfresh Seafoods Limited as a production operator and was elected as an employee representative for the collective redundancy consultation at the Uddingston site in September 2021. The respondent went into administration on 28 February 2022 and 216 employees, including the claimant, were dismissed for redundancy on 1 March 2022. The claimant’s application sought a protective award on the basis that the respondent had failed to comply with s.188 TULRCA 1992.

At this preliminary hearing, the respondent argued that the claimant lacked standing because the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union was recognised to represent hourly paid employees at the site and, on that basis, was the appropriate representative for him under s.188(1B). The claimant said he was not a union member and had been elected to represent all employees who were not union members. The tribunal noted that the recognition agreement contained mixed wording about its scope and that there was no witness to explain whether it remained in force on those terms.

The tribunal referred to s.188, s.188A and s.189 TULRCA 1992, Harvey on Employment Law, and Governing Body of the Northern Ireland Hotel and Catering College v NATFHE [1995] IRLR 83 NICA. It held that the claimant’s complaint appeared to be about alleged failures relating to employee representatives rather than trade union representatives, and that there was therefore prima facie jurisdiction under s.189(1)(b) to consider the complaint. The tribunal directed that a one-day final hearing be fixed; it did not decide the merits of the protective award claim or make any monetary award.