£1m wrongful dismissal claim won by care workers

Published on 28 Jul 2010 under category: legal

Local authority care workers have been given a £1 million settlement after suing for wrongful dismissal.
Workers were told in 2006 to either accept new work conditions involving a 40 per cent wage reduction or to leave by the company Excelcare.
Compensation was given to employees who stayed, as well as those who turned down the new terms and were given wrongful dismissal.
The total payout was around £983,000, with some individual workers out of the 115 taking part in the claim receiving up to £30,000.
Eastern UNISON and GMB came to the settlement over two weeks, following four years of negotiation.
According to Excelcare, local authorities in Essex had failed to tell the private company the actual running costs, forcing them to reduce workers' pay.
Commenting on the case, UNISON steward Denise Yapp said: "We are a little disappointed that we were unable to rebuke Excelcare in tribunal, but happy that the settlement indicated that they knew they were wrong."

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