Where 20 or more employees are made redundant at one 'establishment' within a 90 day period, the employer has to have carried out collective consultation with employee representatives before the dismissals were made.
There are numerous criteria that the employer must satisfy when consulting with the employee representatives. If the employer fails to meet all of these criteria, An employee can bring a claim that the collective consultation requirements have not been complied with - if they succeed, they will receive what is known as a "protective award". Unlike unfair dismissal claims, there is no minimum period of service required to claim a protective award.
The maximum payable by your employer under a protective award is 90 days' pay. If your employer is insolvent, then the government will pay 8 weeks of this award. Unfortunately, the remainder will usually go unpaid. The payment made by the government is subject to a statutory limit of £700 a week. Any payment that has already been made to you by the government for unpaid wages will be deducted from the 8 weeks that they can pay you. National Insurance Contributions will also be deducted from the payment made to you, as is any jobseeker's allowance that you have claimed.
Unlike Redundancy Pay, Unpaid Wages, Holiday Pay and Notice Pay, which are usually straightforward to claim, it is far more difficult to obtain payment of a Protective Award. An employee must secure a successful judgement from an Employment Tribunal, which can be a lengthy, complicated and difficult process, especially if it is contested by the employer.
At Griffin Legal we specialise in obtaining successful judgements in favour of employees with a maximum payout and minimum time and fuss. REMEMBER you will only have 3 months from redundancy to make a claim, so if you think that this situation applies to you, contact us immediately before you miss out!
