Stobart drivers win payout for redundancy mistakes
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• by Dominic Perry Haulage giant Eddie Stobart has been ordered to pay compensation to more than 60 drivers after an employment tribunal found the company failed to act legally when it closed its Stamford depot at the end of last year.
Last week CM reported exclusively that 31 of the former drivers were seeking compensation awards. They claimed the haulier had failed to enter into a 30-day consultaton period over the closure—a requirement when making redundancies.
Stobart's human resources manager, Sheila Woodbridge, admitted that she had not consulted employees because she misunderstood Department of Trade and Industry guidelines: The company's experience had been one of continual growth," she told the tribunal. "Redundancy was not a situation that it was familiar with."
The company had initially attempted to get the case thrown out on a technicality, arguing that none of the drivers in court were eligible to bring the case as they were not the "elected representatives" specified by law.
The case eventually hinged on James Kelly, a yard worker who was also pressing for compensation and who was not represented by the drivers' committee. This allowed Leicester tribunal chairman John Threlfell to make a "protective award" for every employee at the site, including office workers and a cleaner.
"The failure to consult applied to everyone at the site—even the depot manager was not consulted," he said. "But the corn pany has done something in terms of alternatives, therefore it is appropriate to give a small discount."
Yard worker Kelly had been offered alternative employment in the traffic office at Stobart's Crick depot, where he worked on the Tesco contract in the run up to Christmas: a dyslexic so me and offices don't mix," he said. "They put me in charge of something I had no clue of how to run."
Commenting on the finding, Kelly added: "I just feel relief. Mr Stobart paid for the first part of my NOV licence with my redundancy money and now he's going to pay for the second."
Garry Bradbury, who had been instrumental in getting the drivers to put in claims, said: "I'm over the moon for everybody and also sad because we lost our jobs with the company."
A spokesman for Eddie Stobart said: "We have taken note of the tribunal's observations and improved our procedures to ensure the legislation is complied with in future. As the tribunal noted, there was never any intention not to comply with it in the first place."