5 December 2005
Amicus trade union has won a pay out of more than £63,000 for three members on grounds of their unfair dismissal from a textile company in Huddersfield.
Amicus took three members cases to an Employment Tribunal which ruled that that they had been unfairly dismissed and not properly informed or consulted on their redundancy.
Three members received payouts of £31,800, £16,000 and £15,750 which Amicus say is a real victory as the company had initially offered them just £1,500 apiece to drop their claims.
Amicus' local officer, Pat Pepper, said:
"We are delighted that we achieved such a good result for our members and hope this serves as an expensive warning to them and to other employers that they cannot just move to cut peoples jobs without prior consultation."
Andrew James of Thompson Solicitors who represented the Claimants, said:
"The Employment Tribunal found that the company had failed to consult the union properly about the criteria they used to select our clients for redundancy. ECC compounded that error by then failing to consult properly with our clients before dismissing them. This helpful Employment Tribunal decision underlines the importance of trade union membership. Without it, our clients would not have been able to afford to take this case to tribunal at all."
The Employment Tribunal found that the company had failed to consider other options to compulsory redundancies and had failed to give the workers proper notice.
Amicus say that a further settlement is expected for its members on their pension provision in the next few weeks which will add to their financial claim.
