Government appeals EAT decision on former Woolworths employees

Posted 15/09/2013

The shopworkers’ trade union Usdaw are incandescent about the Government’s successful application to appeal an Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decision concerning payments made to their members when Woolworths went into administration.The EAT’s decision had big implications for employers and, in particular, insolvent employers and the insolvency practitioners advising them in similar circumstances.  The issue concerned the interpretation of a point of redundancy law concerning the need to engage in collective consultation with the union or the elected representatives of the employees where more than 20 employees are to be made redundant in a 90 day period. Ross Strowger, Head of Ashtons Legal’s Employment team, who has a particular interest in insolvency/business turnaround issues, commented: “The decision to appeal is understandable so far as the Government is concerned but one fails to understand why, reportedly, the Government failed to attend the original EAT hearing despite being named as a Respondent.”