The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has reached a landmark
decision in relation to collective consultation regarding the words
"at one establishment" in section 188 of the Trade Union
and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA). The
decision in the joined cases of (1) USDAW (2) Wilson v (1)
Unite (2) WW Realisation 1 Ltd (3) Secretary of State for Business,
Innovation and Skills adopts a bold, purposive construction of
the legislation.
The cases concerned former employees of Woolworths and Ethel
Austin who claimed protective awards following a failure to consult
on collective redundancies. The tribunals in each case construed
the legislation to mean that each store was a separate
"establishment" so that the duty to consult was
not engaged for the stores which employed less
than 20 employees. In cases where awards were made the Secretary of
State was liable to make the payments (as a guaranteed debt under
Part XII Employment Rights Act 1996) as both
