Government appealing Woolies decision
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has been granted leave to appeal against the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal to delete the words "at one establishment" from the collective redundancy test, which resulted in protective awards being made to former employees of Woolworths and Ethel Austin who worked in stores employing less than 20 staff. This is an important decision which has implications for all multi-site employers who are proposing redundancies or a business restructuring across various sites.
For further guidance on this case and its implications, please do contact one of the team. In the meantime, we will continue to track the developments in this case and the case of Lyttle and others v. Bluebird UK Bidco 2 Ltd, which has been referred to the European Court for Justice for guidance on the meaning of "establishment".