Delay of eight days by insolvent company in consulting with employees over redundancies did not lead to loss

The High Court has allowed an appeal from the Labour Court, and set aside a decision awarding compensation to an employee's representative for an employer's delay in commencing consultations on collective redundancies. The Labour Court had determined that the employer, an insolvent subsidiary of a UK retail group, breached its obligations in failing to start consultations until eight days after the withdrawal of financial support by its UK parent company. The High Court held that the Labour Court had erred in its interpretation of when consultations should have started and in its decision to award compensation without evidence of loss or injury suffered by the employee's representative due to the delay.