A GROUP of 13 former colleagues are celebrating after a tribunal ruled they were entitled to a combined payout of £21,000 following the collapse of a South Yorkshire firm two years ago which left them jobless.
The tribunal took just five minutes to find in their favour, ruling they should share in the payout from the Government.
The workers lost their jobs when rubber and plastics firm William Freeman Ltd, of Staincross, Barnsley, went into administrati
on in May 2006.
The entire workforce was dismissed over the course of just a few weeks but because some workers were not members of the GMB trade union and stayed on longer than their colleagues to help wind down the business they were refused the redundancy payment awarded to their co-workers.
But in February this year, the group won its first fight in the battle to overturn the decision when they successfully appealed an earlier ruling which had effectively dismissed their claims.
Neil Carr, employment lawyer with Barnsley-based Raleys Solicitors, said: "The GMB obtained a payout through the employment tribunal for all manual workers who were made redundant.
"Because the company went bust, the liability to make the compensation payout fell upon the Secretary of State and the National Insurance Fund.
"But because these 13 workers helped to tie up the loose ends before the company ceased to exist, working beyond May 5 - and because they were not members of the GMB - they were told they did not qualify for it.
"These people had lost their jobs through no fault of their own, and were being denied any kind of pay award. It was not a fair outcome, particularly as these workers had stayed on for a few days basically to help their employer clear up its business, but had lost out on an award of 90 days pay as a result.
"It has been a complex and incredibly long process to get to this stage, but this outcome is what we were working towards all along.
"Throughout this case, we have had the confidence that these people had been unfairly denied the money to which they were entitled. That belief has now finally been vindicated."
What do you think? Add your comment below.READ MOREMain news indexYour letters.
FeaturesMore Rotherham newsMore Doncaster newsMore Barnsley newsCheck out the very latest on South Yorkshire's roads - including live traffic cameras on Sheffield's commuter routes - with our Traffic sectionLatest sport. The full article contains 417 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
