A Fife man has received a pay-out after his manager dismissed him with the words: “I have a big wages bill and at the end of the month I don’t want to see your wages on it.”
Stephen McKay of Kirkside Crescent, Stirling, is to receive £17,239 and David Kelly of Miller Street, St Monans, £11,526, after they were unfairly dismissed from a vehicle accident repair centre in Perth.
The two men raised employment tribunal proceedings against L&I Eaton Arc Ltd, of Atherton, Manchester, who terminated their employment at the Friarton Bridge Park depot last December.
They had previously worked for the John Martin Group at the site, Mr McKay as workshop controller/customer service manager and Mr Kelly as a panel beater/technician.
The workshop carried out vehicle accident repairs for insurance companies and it was bought from the John Martin Group by L&I Eaton Arc last November.
The tribunal in Dundee was told that Mr Kelly met the managing director who told him he was being made redundant.
Mr McKay was told by the managing director that there was a need to reduce overheads and he was also being made redundant.
L&I Eaton initially accepted dismissal but said it was on grounds of redundancy and was fair.
They later amended their position to accept that they failed to follow fair procedure and that the dismissals were unfair. They said there was a genuine redundancy situation, however, and the two men would both have been dismissed had a fair procedure been carried out.
The company sought a 100% reduction in any compensatory award.
The tribunal chaired by judge Ian McFatridge said that if the company or their representatives had looked candidly at the evidence available prior to the hearing, they may well have concluded that the redundancy argument had no reasonable likelihood of success.
The application for costs to be reduced was refused.