The danger of overlooking provision of redundancy law
Further woes for Sports Direct whose working practices were the subject of Parliamentary scrutiny as it is reported that ex CEO Dave Forsey is to be charged criminally for a breach of an often overlooked provision of redundancy law concerning the closure of a Scottish warehouse.
If convicted of the offence, he could be subjected to a fine of up to £5,000 and be banned from being a director for up to 15 years.
Ross Strowger, Head of Employment at Ashtons Legal with a special interest in directors duties and business recovery, says: “This announcement is an example of the Government looking to be seen as getting tough with so called “rogue businesses” and bringing senior executives to account personally. The law was changed in 2015 to give it greater teeth and remove the £5,000 cap. We have not really seen any notable prosecutions for this offence for years until the CityLink case in 2014 and it is clear that BIS are monitoring Form HR1s being sent through in good time. This is particularly problematic in the case of insolvency situations where there is often insufficient time to address the requirements of collective redundancy properly and the situation is dynamic and fast moving with competing interests of business rescue and employment law protection.”
Tags: Employee, Employer, Employment, HR, Lawyers, Redundancy, Solicitors
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