EAT REDUNDANCY: Collective consultation and information / Protective award
An Employment Tribunal held that the USA was in breach of Section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 by failing to consult representatives of civilian employees at a US Army Base about the reasons for its closure and by failing to start consultation in time. It made a 30 day protective award. The ET did not err in failing to construe TULR(C)A Section 188 in such a way as to impose no obligation on the US to consult employee representatives about the reason for the closure of the Base. Once the US had waived sovereign immunity from suit and submitted to the jurisdiction of the ET there was no warrant for giving a special construction to Section 188 because the closure of the Base was jus imperii. Since UK Coal, where the closure of a workplace would inevitably lead to the redundancy of those working there, Section 188 imposed an obligation to consult over the reason for the closure. The ET did not err in making a 30 day protective award. The claim was brought by Mrs Nolan as a member of the executive of the employee representative body, the LNEC. The case is remitted to the ET for determination of the issue of whether she was elected to the LNEC ‘otherwise than for the purposes’ of Section 188 and so had standing to bring a claim under Section 189 for a protective award.
Slade J
[2009] UKEAT 0328 – 08 – 1505, [2009] IRLR 923
Bailii
Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 188
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Securicor Omega Express Ltd v GMB (A Trade Union) EAT 7-Apr-2003
EAT The company decided to close two branches and make redundancies. They presented the closure itself as a fait accompli to the union representatives. The Tribunal found that this involved a failure to consult . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – United States of America v Nolan CA 9-Nov-2010
The claimant had sought a protective award under the 1992. She had been a civilian employee at a base operated by the appellant which it closed. She sought to sue as an employee representative, saying that the appellant had failed to consult its . .
At EAT – The United States of America v Nolan CA 4-Feb-2014
The employee was made redundant from working at a US watercraft repair base. She complained that on the base closing the appellant had failed to consult with her as employee representative. The appellant denied that obligation. After a reference to . .
At EAT – United States of America v Nolan CA 24-Nov-2010
. .
At EAT – The United States of America v Nolan SC 21-Oct-2015
Mrs Nolan had been employed at a US airbase. When it closed, and she was made redundant, she complained that the appellant had not consulted properly on the redundancies. The US denied that it had responsibility to consult, and now appealed.
At EAT – United States of America v Nolan ECJ 22-Mar-2012
ECJ (Opinion) Directive 98/59/EC – Admissibility – Protection of workers – Collective redundancies – Information and consultation of workers – Closure of a US military base – Scope – Time at which the obligation . .
At EAT – United States of America v Nolan ECJ 18-Oct-2012
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Directive 98/59/EC – Protection of workers – Collective redundancies – Scope – Closure of an American military base – Information and consultation of workers – Time at which the consultation obligation arises – . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.346171