UNISON versus Barnet Council – Appeal Hearing date set 19 December 2013

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UNISON versus Barnet Council – Appeal Hearing date set 19 December 2013

Earlier this year UNISON announced it had won a landmark legal decision for more than 150 Barnet Council workers who are set to receive compensation, following a landmark decision, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, after a decision of the Employment Tribunal.

An analysis of the decision is available online here, it is worth reading the short report and please note a brief extract here which said:

“Barnet Council had an established practice of supplying the trade union Unison with information on its agency workers in redundancy and TUPE transfer situations. Unison would then send that information to each of the Council’s directorates to check whether it was accurate and to ask about the strategy for cutting back the use of agency staff with a view to saving the jobs of employees.

In around 2009, Unison started to experience problems with obtaining this information from Barnet Council.”

Not long after a similar case was taken by UNISON against Capita where “Private company Capita has been severely criticised for failure to provide vital information and to consult fully with UNISON in relation to the proposed redundancy of 36 call centre workers…..The UNISON members have each been awarded 45 day’s pay in compensation, following the decision by an Employment Tribunal in Croydon, Surrey.”

You can read more on the UNISON versus Capita here. The author of this report finishes with ominous words

“Wragge & Co’s employment experts outline some useful actions that employers would be well-advised to comply with to avoid falling into the trap created by the Agency Workers Regulations 2010. The tribunal has sent out a clear message – failure to comply with section 188 will not be viewed sympathetically.”

It is our understanding that Capita have paid up unlike Barnet Council who made a decision to Appeal the decision. A couple of weeks ago we heard news a date has now been fixed for 19 December 2013. 150 former Council employees now have a further wait to see if they will be receiving a payment from Barnet Council.