Ms K Ritchie v Prime Seafoods Limited (in Liquidation) — 2020

Ms K Ritchie worked for Prime Seafoods Limited as a sales administrator from 1 August 2012 until 18 February 2020. The respondent was in creditors’ voluntary liquidation and did not lodge a Form ET3. The claimant’s representative supplied the background facts, including that there was no recognised trade union and no elected employee representatives at the workplace.

The tribunal found that on 18 February 2020 the claimant and about 60 to 70 other employees were told at a meeting that they were redundant with immediate effect. There had been no prior discussion with the claimant about redundancy and no consultation about possible redundancy. Because more than 20 employees were affected, the collective consultation obligations in section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 applied, and the tribunal found that those obligations were not met.

The tribunal held that where redundancies of more than 20 but fewer than 100 employees are proposed, consultation should have begun at least 30 days before the first dismissal. That did not happen. The tribunal referred to Newage Transmission Ltd v TGWU & others and Susie Radin Ltd v GMB & others as authority that the starting point for a protective award is 90 days, subject to reduction depending on the extent of default and any special circumstances.

The tribunal found that there were no special circumstances justifying any departure from the 90-day starting point. It referred to Clarks of Hove Ltd v Bakers’ Union and noted that a standard insolvency does not itself amount to special circumstances. A protective award was therefore made for the full protected period of 90 days, running from 18 February 2020 to 18 May 2020. The judgment does not state a monetary figure for the award in the extracted text.