Union hails Thomas Cook redundancy payment ruling

An employment tribunal has found against Cook over its failure to consult 1,500 staff employed across the operator’s London, Manchester and Peterborough offices, who were made redundant without prior warning or consultation when Cook collapsed on 23 September 2019, the union said on Tuesday (16 March).

"Legally, Thomas Cook should have started a consultation process with TSSA at least 45 days before making anyone redundant," said the union. "The company completely failed to do so, instead making staff redundant with immediate effect."

Working with specialist law firm Morrish Solicitors, the union has secured a judgment against Cook for a protective award, with the tribunal awarding 90 days’ pay for each affected employee – the maximum award possible.

It means up to 1,500 former Cook head office staff working across the operator’s UK retail central operations and retail support, its contact centre, and corporate and group functions may now be entitled to make a claim.

Those covered by the judgment can seek up to eight weeks’ pay from the government’s Insolvency Service, which guarantees some of the protective award compensation from the National Insurance Fund.

Awards are capped at 2019 rates, £525 a week, meaning former Cook employees could claim as much as £4,200 over the coming weeks.

The Cook name and intellectual property was acquired by Chinese tourism giant Fosun following Cook’s collapse. It has since been relaunched as an OTA.