An Employment Tribunal has awarded former Woolworths employees up to a total of £67.8 million.
More than 24,000 workers who were made redundant when Woolworth’s went into administration in 2008 have each been awarded the equivalent 60 days salary.
The tribunal heard that administrators had failed in their legal duty to consult with the union before making large scale collective redundancies. However the award does not apply to 3,000 former employees who worked in smaller branches where fewer than 20 redundancies were made.
The Union for the Woolworth’s employees consider that the Tribunal’s interpretation of the law on collective redundancies is both unfair and possibly a breach of the European Directive which seeks to protect workers in large scale redundancy situations.
They have indicated that they shall be taking further expert legal advice may appeal against that part of the judgment.
