Britain’s largest union, Unite, has launched legal action for more than 1,800 employees who had lost their jobs, after Monarch recently went into administration. The airline had fallen victim to intense competition for flights and the weaker pound.
Unite are representing engineers and cabin crew who work for the airline stating the airline had broken the law over failure to consult on redundancies. Monarch employees are entitled to compensation due to the way Monarch went into administration and how the government allowed it to happen.
The union are putting a lot of their focus on the employees who worked so hard to try and turn the airline around. The union are helping them to get new jobs with other airlines, secure the compensation the workers are owed and providing them with free legal advice.
It has also emerged that some employees were told to phone a premium-rate phone line to be given the news of their redundancy. Some workers had been billed almost £40 for the call. KPMG, the administrators, have since pledged to reimburse the costs of the calls. The British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) are seeking compensation for this, as the Monarch pilots shouldn’t have been billed this much to be informed of their own sacking and of their company’s demise.
A redundancy is a form of dismissal from your job. It normally happens when employers need to reduce their workforce. There are certain rights an employee is entitled to if they are being made redundant. These rights are: redundancy pay, a notice period, time off to find a new job, the option to move into a different job and a consultation with your employer.
Under UK law, organisations with over 100 employees working for them must give a statutory minimum 45 days’ notice of their intention to make people redundant. Anyone who has worked for a company for more than 2 years is entitled to statutory redundancy pay. Monarch had failed to give the necessary notice or statutory pay to their employees. The employees are out of a job and out of pocket and it isn’t their fault.
If you have any queries regarding making your employees redundant or what your rights are if you have been made redundant, please contact a member of the HPC team on 0844 800 5932 or email: help@highperformanceconsultancy.com.
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