Tribunal tells Renwicks to pay out £1,728 to Faichen
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• Lorry driver John Faichen, who was transferred to a new depot by Renwicks Freight (Scotland) after his original depot had been dosed down, and who left some time after the statutory trial period had ended, has been awarded a redundancy payment of £1,728.25 by an Edinburgh industrial tribunal.
The tribunal was told that in October 1986 Renwicks closed down its Leith depot. Faichen was moved to Whitburn before resigning his employment on 6 January, In its decision the tribunal said that where there was a redundancy situation and an employee accepted an offer of alternative employment, there was a statutory trial period of four weeks. There was also a common law trial period that could be longer than the statutory period — but not too much longer.
The tribunal was satisfied Faichen agreed to move to Whitburn for a trial period, and notwithstanding that he terminated his employment after a trial period well in excess of four weeks, he was entitled to a redundancy payment.
It was clear that by 23 November Faichen had decided he did not wish to continue his employment. He sought to raise the matter with a company which, for reasons best known to itself, made no response. In those circumstances it was not unreasonable for Faichen to delay terminating his employment.
In the circumstances, particularly having regard to the attitude of the company, it was reasonable to regard the trial period as lasting until 6 January. Faichen was redundant when he moved to Whitburn. He gave the move a trial but the trial did not work out and he was still redundant at the end of the trial period.