The 37 staff who were made redundant by the leading Christian publishing group Lion Hudson PLC in January have been awarded a payout after the company failed properly to consult with them before they were dismissed, The Bookseller has reported.
More than two thirds of Lion Hudson PLC staff were made redundant just before the Oxford-based publisher went into administration. The company's assets were then sold to the AFD Group in August, and given a new name, Lion Hudson Limited, with the jobs of the 15 remaining employees being saved.
One of those made redundant, who asked not to be named, told The Bookseller the employees' dismissal without warning a day before they were due to be paid was a 'shock' which led to a very 'worrying and stressful' time.
The employee said that those who were let go, some of whom had worked for the publisher for decades, only received 50 per cent of their January salary, with a number forced to turn to the Book Trade Charity for financial help.
The lack of warning and the 50 per cent pay for January were confirmed to Christian Today by a former staff member who asked not to be named.
Some 30 of the 37 former staff members took Lion Hudson PLC to a tribunal in Reading which ruled that the publisher failed to consult with staff prior to their dismissal, and were awarded 90 days pay as a result of the firm's 'total non-compliance' with the law.
But staff have been told there is no guarantee of when they will be given the payout because the company is in administration, and the payout is likely to be 'minimal' because 35 per cent of each individual's total will go towards solicitors' legal fees, along with any job seekers' allowance they received during the period in question.
The former employee told The Bookseller that staff were 'completely shocked' at the extent of the staff cuts in January without due warning or formal consultation.
One person affected reportedly had almost 30 years of service and another more than 20 years' service, after which, it is understood, only statutory redundancy pay could be provided.
'I thought at the worst I would have to cut one person from my team,' the employee said. 'I was asked how I might reduce headcount cost by 20 per cent and outline how my team might work. In the end, rather than lose one of my team, only one was retained. It was a shock. And it was not nicely handled at all.
'Given its ethos as a Christian company, it was particularly shocking how it was handled. It was a worrying few months.'
Christian Today's source confirmed the details and said that the first one former member of staff had heard of the tribunal and the potential payout was when they read about it in The Bookseller. Others heard from the Department for Work and Pensions that some benefits that have been received could be clawed back if the payout goes ahead. 'Nobody knows what we are getting or when we are going to get it,' the source told Christian Today. 'It's all of a piece with a general lack of information.'
The next step for the claimants, according to their legal team, is to obtain payment for the 90 days' award from Lion Hudson PLC in administration or, if this is not possible, from the redundancy payments office.
Lion Hudson PLC's former managing director, Suzanne Wilson-Higgins, declined to comment when asked to by The Bookseller, as did its administrators, FRP Advisory, who were appointed early February after the redundancies had taken place.
Lion Hudson PLC declined to comment to Christian Today.
