Have you unexpectedly been made redundant? Were 20 or more employees dismissed?
Our team of employment lawyers are experts in helping employees who have been made redundant without the required consultation process. We will help you secure the compensation you are entitled to through a Protective Award payment.
As Scotland’s leading employment lawyers, we have extensive experience in dealing with Protective Award claims.
We are currently pursuing claims against Debenhams, Morton's Rolls and Allma Construction on behalf of hundreds of former employees.
You can still claim even if your employer has gone bust (the Insolvency Service will pay any compensation awarded).
We have represented clients in a number of high-profile protective award claims in recent years:
Healthcare Environmental Services employees arrived at work days before Christmas in 2018 to be told they no longer had a job. Our specialist employment lawyers represented 220 former workers after their employers failed to consult them prior to making them redundant, securing £400,000 Protective Award compensation for our clients.
The Daily Record 13th June 2021- Scots workers who lost jobs at scandal-hit clinical waste plant land six-figure compensation payout
Watt Brothers plunged into administration in October 2019 when staff were asked to leave the store without warning. Thompsons represented 78 of the employees with regards to a Protective Award claim successfully securing £125,000 in compensation.
The Herald, 14th December 2020 - Former Watt Brothers staff set to receive payouts totalling £125,000
Land Engineering (Scotland) Ltd failed to consult their staff about redundancies, giving only one day’s notice. Thompsons raised a Protective Award claim on behalf of the employees resulting in £250,000 compensation being paid.
The Herald 11th January 2019 - Scots engineering staff dumped with one day notice win £250,000 payout
Scottish Legal News 11th January 2018 – Thompsons wins payout for workers sacked at short notice.
Tullis Russell After Thompsons successfully won a protective award claim at the Employment Tribunal, former employees at a paper mill in Fife, Scotland, were awarded £1.5m in compensation after they were made redundant with a day's notice.
The Mirror 9th April 2016 - Tullis Russell paper mill workers awarded £1.5m in compensation made redundant with 1 days notice
TOM Vehicle Rental - Thompsons secured over £500,000 compensation for more than 200 former employees of TOM Vehicle Rental after administrators dismissed the entire workforce without consultation in 2018.
The Daily Record 10th April 2018 - Concerns raised over administration process at doomed Airdrie company TOM
What is a Protective Award?
A protective award is a type of compensation awarded by an Employment Tribunal where it finds that an employer failed to carry out the required consultation process before making redundancies. It only applies where 20 or more employees have been dismissed from the same premises within a 90-day period. A strict procedure must be followed whereby the employer allows all affected employees to elect representatives. A series of consultation meetings must then take place to discuss ways of reducing or avoiding the redundancies with the employer. Alternatively, where there is a recognised trade union, consultation must take place with that union.
How long do I have to make a Protective Award claim?
To claim a Protective Award, an Employment Tribunal claim must be lodged within 3 months of the date of dismissal.
How much could I be awarded?
It is up to the Tribunal to decide how seriously the employer has failed to meet its obligations to consult. In most cases there has been a complete failure and the award is 90 days' pay per employee.
How much will it cost?
We run protective award claims on a "no win, no fee" basis. If we take your claim on, you pay us nothing under any circumstances unless we are successful.
Who decides if a Protective Award should be paid?
An Employment Tribunal can make a Protective Award where an employer dismissed as redundant 20 or more employees at one establishment within a period of 90 days or less without consultation of appropriate representatives of the affected employees.
What is the consultation period?
Generally, consultation must begin 30 days before the first of the dismissals takes effect, unless 100 or more redundancies are proposed in a 90-day period, in which case consultation must begin at least 45 days before that dismissal.
What is a meaningful consultation?
Consultation must include discussion of ways to avoid, reduce, or mitigate the consequences of, the proposed dismissals. Employers must therefore engage in good faith with the representatives and make a genuine effort to reach agreement.
Are there circumstances where a consultation period is not required?
If an employer is able to show that there were exceptional circumstances which made consultation impossible, this can be an absolute defence to a protective award claim. It should be noted that this defence is extremely difficult to make out e.g. company insolvency; sudden closure of a parent company; and even the coronavirus pandemic are all unlikely to be enough on their own to justify a failure to consult.
Been made redundant? No consultation?
You could be entitled to claim a Protective Award.
Call our specialist employment lawyers on 0800 0891 331.
