Workers at a Scottish carpet factory have been awarded £160,000 after the business failed to consult them about their redundancies.
The 38 former employees of First Textile Flooring in Ayrshire were awarded between £2,582 and £10,710 each by an Aberdeen employment tribunal after the company went into administration.
Machine operator Peter Ball, who had worked for the company for 35 years, told the tribunal he received a call from a firm of chartered accountants in July to tell him the company was closing down that day.
Bell, also secretary of the Scottish Carpet Workers Union, said there had been no prior consultation with any of the workforce prior to the closure.
Tribunal chairman Stuart Watt found that all the workers were entitled to a protective award under Section 189 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
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“In this case, the tribunal is satisfied that the respondents made no attempt whatsoever to comply with their statutory duty to consult. A protective award is effectively a punitive award and its purpose is to impose an effective sanction for an employers’ failure to observe the statutory duty to consult,” Watt said.
https://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/2006/07/12/35781/Sweetin+v+Coral+Racing.htm
