Shropshire staff win tribunal award after losing jobs

Shropshire workers who lost their jobs at a door manufacturing firm have been awarded a slice of nearly £90,000 by an employment tribunal.

The firm, Timberlike Ltd of Hale in Cheshire, went into administration and then voluntary liquidation causing 24 workers, including some from the Whitchurch area, to lose their jobs, a Birmingham employment tribunal was told yesterday.

Ian Edwards, of Bath Street, Whitchurch, and former Timberlike colleagues Nicholas Roberts, of Malpas, and Ken Jones, of Wrexham, made compensation claims against the company for protective awards.

Protective awards are another form of notice in lieu and Mr Edwards and his two colleagues made their claims on behalf of the other 21 former employees, who did not attend the hearing.

Mr Edwards, who had been a factory operative, told the tribunal that he and his colleagues turned up for work only to be told to go home. He said: "We were told the firm was closing but we were not given a prior warning and there was no consultation. The firm did not recognise trade unions."

The firm, which did not attend the hearing, was formed about 10 years.

Tribunal judge Mrs Helen Mason said the firm had breached the Employment Rights Act by failing to carry out consultations with its staff about the closure.

She said she would award all 24 former employees 90 days protective awards — a total of about £3,600 for each former worker. The amount is the equivalent of about £300 a week over three months.

Mrs Mason advised Mr Edwards and his two colleagues to seek Citizens Advice Bureau help in applying for the awards to the Government's Redundancy Office.