A closed down Newcastle-based law firm has been ordered to pay 13 former employees three months’ remuneration following an employment tribunal judgment.
Short Richardson and Forth traded for 44 years before closing its doors on 30 September 2022 and entered voluntary liquidation on 12 January 2023.
Of the 17 employees who lodged claims against the firm at the employment tribunal, four were dismissed in their entirety while eight claims of wrongful dismissal were well-founded.
The liquidator wrote to the tribunal stating ‘he did not intend to admit or defend any claim’. The judgments were entered without a hearing.
In the written judgments, Employment Judge Arullendran said: ‘On 5 September 2022 the respondent informed employees that the company would cease to provide legal services after 30 September 2022. The respondent proposed to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees. The first dismissal took effect on 30 September 2022 and the last dismissal took effect on 30 November 2022.
‘There was no proper warning or consultation undertaken with a recognised trade union or the claimant. There was no consultation with the claimant between 5 September 2022 and 30 September 2022. No employee representatives had been elected or appointed for any such consultation within section 188A of the 1992 Act.’
The judge ordered the firm to pay 13 of the claimants a payment equivalent to remuneration for the maximum protected period of 90 days beginning on 30 September 2022.
Orders to pay three months’ notice pay for those claimants who succeeded in their wrongful dismissal claim as they were dismissed without proper notice varied from £37.70 to £9,774.21. The total to pay out in relation to wrongful dismissal claims reached more than £20,000.
