Employment Tribunal rules in favour of former City Link workers
An employment tribunal in Leeds has ruled in favour of the former City Link workers who claimed that the collapsed parcel delivery company failed in its statutory duty to consult with them about impending redundancies. City Link, which was acquired for £1 in April 2013 by Better Capital, was in serious financial difficulty in the closing weeks of 2014. By 22 December 2014, Administrators were called in and their appointment was announced in the media on Christmas Day. By New Year’s Eve 2,500 employees had been made redundant without appointing employee representatives and without consultation.
On Monday (23 May), the Leeds Employment Tribunal decided that “a conscious decision, for the financial benefit of City Link Ltd and Better Capital, was taken not to inform the employees or carry out any consultation.” It also said that “the consequence of that decision was that employees who could have been told on 22 December 2014 what was happening, perhaps been given information about redundancy payments, notice periods and so on, were told nothing. That led to their finding out that they had lost their jobs on the news on Christmas Day.”
The Tribunal said “there was a deliberate and calculated decision not to comply with their legal obligations”. It added: “No mitigating features have been identified and in those circumstances the Tribunal considers that it is just and equitable to award the full period of 90 days in this case to all eligible claimants.”
Leeds-based Morrish Solicitors LLP represented 258 of the claimants and all were awarded 90 days’ pay.
In a statement issued by the law firm today (26 May), Daniel Kindell, Associate at Morrish Solicitors stated: “We are delighted to have been able to secure the best possible result in this case. The Company defended this case throughout and its stance has been vindicated by the penalty imposed. We hope the Tribunal’s decision gives ex-employees of City Link some sense of justice. It can only be described as a travesty that successful Claimants can only claim a small proportion of this award from the government’s National Insurance Fund and City Link can continue to rely on its state of insolvency to the further detriment of those who worked so hard for it.”
