P&O should brace themselves for a series of unfair dismissal claims, a leading employment expert has warned.

The ferry-firm has found itself widely criticised after making almost 1,000 employees redundant without any prior consultation.

P&O, who blame the move on financial struggles linked to Covid, broke the news to 800 affected workers over video-call yesterday, a decision which has led to further criticism.
Ella Bond, an Employment Solicitor at Harper James, said the company were taking a “real gamble” in the way they’ve behaved.

She said: “I can’t help but think there are going to be ramifications from this
for a long time to come and, one way or another P&O are going to have to have very deep pockets to see themselves out of this situation”.

“For mass redundancies such as these, the employer is under an obligation to consult
with affected employees for at least 45 days in order to provide them with information on and consider alternatives to the proposed redundancy situation. By circumventing that process entirely they risk a protective award of up to 90 days pay being awarded
to each of the 800 employees as well as compensation payments for claims of unfair dismissal (which are almost certainly bound to succeed). It’s also likely to have a significant impact on P&O’s time and resources due to the efforts needed to defend any claims it will face.

“Although P&O have said that they will be offering enhanced compensation packages
to all those affected, those packages will only protect them from claims if the employees are willing to accept them and enter settlement agreement terms with P&O.
“In any event, what P&O will be left with is agency staff making up a significant
amount of their workforce, which could pose a risk to the high level of customer service passengers have come to expect from this flagship company. Whilst the redundant staff have been told that they may seek work with P&O through the agencies, a question
arises as to whether they will be willing to, given the way that they have been treated. P&O have taken a real gamble here and it remains to be seen whether it can pay off.”