YTM

Protective Award cases members of our Employment team have acted on: YTM

YTM was a Yorkshire- based furniture manufacturer. The business operated from two sites based in Pontefract and Castleford.

The business manufactured contract furniture, largely for the care, hotel and education sectors.

It was reported that the business, founded in 1981, was suffering from strong competition and the loss of a major contract.

YTM entered into administration and ceased trading on 14^th February 2019. All 117 staff were made redundant. Begbies Traynor were appointed as the administrators, along with an individual from Rushtons.

A group of former employees instructed SDM Legal to lodge a Protective Award claim with the Tribunal which was successfully concluded in December 2019.

Under s.188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA), an employer is obligated to collectively consult with its employees when proposing to make redundancies. As the company were proposing to make more than 100 employees redundant, the consultation period should have lasted over 45 days. As the employees were not consulted with in any capacity regarding their redundancies, they were eligible to make a claim for the Protective Award which is worth up to 90 days’ pay.