Business

WRC to hear test case in claim by 750 former Debenhams workers over redundancy consultation

It is understood two complaints per employee have been recorded

Former Debenhams staff protest outside the store on Henry Street in Dublin. File photograph: The Irish Times

Stephen Bourke
Fri Oct 21 2022 - 15:42

The Workplace Relations Commission will hear a test case next week in connection with statutory complaints taken by some 750 former Debenhams workers over the way they were made redundant in 2020.

It is understood two complaints per worker have been taken under the Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Act 2006 through their trade union, Mandate.

Debenhams Retail (Ireland) Ltd is accused of failing to comply with its responsibilities in a collective redundancy scenario by not consulting with or providing information to their trade union, legal sources say.

One test case has been called on for adjudication, that of Henry Street shop steward Jane Crowe, who is expected to give evidence to the tribunal if required.

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Representatives from KPMG, the liquidator appointed for the windup of the retailer’s Irish operation on April 16th, 2020, are to make a defence of the claims.

Pickets mounted by workers on the shuttered stores delayed its efforts to remove stock for over a year up to April, 2021.

An overnight Garda operation on April 22nd broke up the blockade at Debenhams’ flagship store on Henry Street in Dublin.

The workers had been demanding payment of an enhanced redundancy package of two weeks’ pay per year of service on top of the normal statutory minimum, which is being paid out of the state’s social insurance fund.

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