EAT Redundancy : Collective Consultation and Information – The Appellant is a local authority which was contemplating redundancies of staff and also transfers of some employees to third parties. The Employment Tribunal found that it had breached the consultation and information requirements in section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and regulation 13 of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006 No. 246). It went on to make a protective award under the 1992 Act and an award of compensation under the 2006 Regulations. In calculating the periods for which those awards should be made it took as a starting point the maximum that is available in law and worked down from that.
Held (1) The Tribunal had misdirected itself in law because the starting point of the maximum was, in accordance with Court of Appeal and EAT authority, only to be used where the employer had not engaged in any consultation at all. Those were not the circumstances of the present case. The case would therefore be remitted to the same Tribunal, which was familiar with the evidence, having conducted a two day hearing, to reconsider its decision in accordance with the judgment of the Appeal Tribunal. (2) The Tribunal had also erred in law in failing to make a declaration that the Second Respondent (the transferee in one case) was jointly and severally liable for breach of the 2006 Regulations under regulation 15(9). A declaration to that effect would therefore be made by the Appeal Tribunal. (3) The Second Respondent’s cross-appeal would be dismissed, as any question of apportionment as between that Respondent and the Appellant was a matter for the ordinary courts and not for the Employment Tribunal.
Singh J
[2013] UKEAT 0191 – 13 – 1912
Bailii
Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 13
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 01 December 2021; Ref: scu.522369
