‘Forgotten’ construction workers win redundancy compensation battle

The group were all employed by Dundee-based Muirfield Contracts Ltd which was placed into liquidation in 2015 with 300 job losses and debts of £13 million.

All have now been awarded a protective award of 8 weeks wages after an employment tribunal found that the employees were not consulted regarding alternatives to redundancy.

They were not members of a union and did not receive the compensation to which they were entitled.

Ex-employee Kim Oram, who led the group in its legal battle, welcomed the news.

He said: “We are very pleased, it is a better result than we expected. We felt that we were forgotten and just cast aside but I am glad that the lawyers took up our case and got such a good result.”

Another former employee, Linda Burton, added: “We are very pleased to have at last won our case regarding this protective award for a number of dedicated ex Muirfield Contracts employees. We were fortunate to find a solicitor who gave us confidence we could win the case and help us take it to an employment tribunal. There were many challenges on the way and no doubt more to come however the team involved have worked hard to make this happen. Over two years later we now have an outcome which means this group of employees can be treated in the same way as others.”

John Muir, senior partner at law Muir Myles Laverty, which acted for the former Muirfield workers, said: “Despite the fact that we were first consulted a year after the 3 month limit had passed we still brought the claim home successfully. We are very pleased for these workers who were poorly treated in the aftermath of the liquidation of Muirfield Contracts.They showed great resolve and we were delighted to have helped.”