Dozens of former Metamorph staff laid off when the group went under are collectively entitled to £570,000 in compensation, a tribunal has ruled.
The 70 claimants, represented by north west firm Pearson Solicitors, this week secured a protective award from the employment tribunal after making a joint claim. The tribunal makes no financial award at this stage but has established that they can seek payment from the Metamorph business or more likely the secretary of state for business.
The respondent, Metamorph Group Services Ltd, had been closed down by the SRA in December 2022 around the same time as several firms owned by the group. The group provided marketing, compliance, IT, finance, and HR services to all law firms in the network.
Judge Cookson ruled that the company failed to consult with each of the claimants as it was required to under employment regulations.
Metamorph Group employed around 90 people at 10 locations in the UK, with a head office in Telford. The majority of the employees were informed in November 2022 that the company was being placed into voluntary liquidation and that their employment was being terminated with immediate effect. The judge found there was no consultation with the claimants and no advance warning or notice was given.
Solicitor Alan Lewis, who led the claims, said: ‘This is a real triumph for the claimants and on a personal level, this is particularly satisfying as many of the claimants are former colleagues of mine who were employed to support Linder Myers Solicitors, one of the numerous law firm brands that collapsed as part of the group.
‘Now the judgment has been issued, the protective claim team at Pearson are taking steps to ensure that each claimant receives that part of their award that is guaranteed by the government’s redundancy payments service.’
A protective award is compensation of up to 90 days’ gross pay, which can be awarded by an employment tribunal when an employee fails to collectively inform and consult its workforce of twenty or more employees from the same establishment that they have been dismissed on the grounds of redundancy.
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