Employees Fired By Text Message Get Compensation

from the from-taxpayers... dept

Thu, Dec 11th 2003 10:14am — Mike Masnick

Back in June, we wrote about a UK company that had run out of money, and their advisors from PriceWaterhouseCoopers had decided that the most cost efficient way of letting the staff know was to send them all a text message on their phones telling them they had been fired and wouldn't be paid any money owed to them. Apparently, soon after that, the former head of the company was seen "sunning himself at his luxury villa in Spain." How nice. A small group of the fired employees have taken their claims against the company to an employment tribunal and won compensation, as the panel found that the staff had been "cynically manipulated". Of course, now, all the other employees are likely to file cases as well.

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John, 13 Dec 2003 @ 1:51pm

Government is paying
As an American, the really bizarre aspect of this case is that since the company has no cash, the government will pay the claim using taxpayers' money.
Why should the company do the right thing if the government is the one that has to pay?
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Dec 2003 @ 12:41am

Re: Government is paying
Because, unlike America, there is an implicit acknoledgement by the courts that the workers will never get paid if *someone* doesn't do the right thing. So, instead of rewarding non-existant money, the courts have assumes a dual responsibility of not only doing the right thing, but being willing to step up and pay for a judgement they issued.

Sometimes I wonder what the American Judicial Industrail Complex would be like if it were held to similar standards.

...and the benefit of the entire exercise is to establish presicence that states clearly: you need to be completely insolvent before you can fire people by SMS message.
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