Employment Appeals Tribunal (15 May 2009): The Employment Tribunal held that the USA was in breach of the Section 188 Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULR(C)A) by failing to consult representatives of civilian employees at a US Army Base about the reasons for its closure and by failing to start consultation in time. It made a 30 day protective award.
Where the closure of a workplace would inevitably lead to the redundancy of those working there, Section 188 imposed an obligation to consult over the reason for the closure. The EAT held that the ET did not err in making a 30 day protective award. The claim was brought by Mrs Nolan as a member of the executive of the employee representative body, the LNEC. The case is now remitted to the Employment Tribunal for determination of the issue of whether she was elected to the LNEC 'otherwise than for the purposes' of Section 188 and so had standing to bring a claim under Section 189 for a protective award.
