Hundreds of call centre employees made redundant in the North East over the summer won claims for unfair dismissal at an employment tribunal in Newcastle yesterday.
1,158 staff working at Garlands call centres in South Shields, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool were laid off after the company called in administrators.
Around 300 of them say they are still owed three months wages because they were not given a 90-day consultation period before being laid off.
Explaining the tribunal's decision, chairman Pamela Arullendran said Garlands had shown a "complete failure to provide required information and consult affected employees."
By law, when a company plans to make 100 or more employees redundant, they must consult staff at least 90 days beforehand.
Following the verdict, one of the employees made redundant, Emma Weardon, aged 19, from Guisborough in North Yorkshire, said: "We were sacked and asked to leave the office within half an hour.
"If we can get this money before Christmas I will be over the moon, but we will have to wait and see."
TUC regional secretary Kevin Rowan added: "These are exactly the kind of problems that happen when companies are not open with their staff about their financial situation and they end up closing very quickly."
Links:
- Redundant staff take firm to tribunal (Northern Echo)
- Garland workers in payout victory at tribunal (Evening Gazette)
- Redundancy rights: Call centre staff bring claim against Garlands (The Solicitor)
- Unfair dismissal law (Findlaw.co.uk)
- Redundancy rights (Findlaw.co.uk)
- Redundancy rights news (The Solicitor)
- Unfair dismissal law news (The Solicitor)
- Employment law Q&A (Community)
- Find an employment solicitor (Contact Law)
