People who lost their jobs after a soft furnishings firm went into administration last week are to take legal action against their ex-employer.
Ena Shaw went into administration last week after the Merseyside firm said it had suffered from “difficult trading conditions”.
On Wednesday, specialist employment law firm Simpson Millar said it has been contacted by “multiple” former employees who claim they have not received payments from the St Helens firm that they believe they are entitled to.
The news last week meant 167 members of staff working across the firm’s factory in Lea Green and store on Duke Street, are set to be made redundant.
RSM Restructuring Advisory was appointed as the administrator, and said despite “best efforts” to find a buyer for the family-run business established in 1932, none was found.
On Wednesday, Stephen Pinder, a specialist employment law Partner at Simpson Millar, said: “This is, understandably, an incredibly difficult period for those affected and many will be trying to understand the news and plan their next steps.
“To date, we have been contacted by multiple former employees who are looking to bring in claims for a 'protective' award which would be paid out to those affected by redundancies where they have not properly been consulted.”
He said the ‘protective award’ is a payment given by an employment tribunal in cases where an employer fails to follow the correct procedure when making 20 or more redundancies.
He added that where a tribunal finds in favour of employees, they will be able to access the funds via the government’s insolvency service.
Both RSM Restructuring Advisory and Ena Shaw were contacted for a comment by BusinessLive.
