Lawyers issue call to ex-Info'Products staff

Lawyers acting for the former Info'Products staff who are preparing a legal case against Compel for unfair dismissal following its takeover of the reseller have issued a plea for other employees to come forward.

Alan Lewis, a solicitor at Romford law firm Mullis and Peake, who is co-ordinating the claims, argued that the case would be stronger if more people from different regional offices came forward. No legal papers have yet been served on Compel.

Lewis added: 'If we're right, all the employees who have been made redundant are entitled to some money, so they're missing out by not coming forward. The more that come forward the better.'

Lewis estimated that between 40 and 60 employees were looking to take action.

The staff are understood to be suing Compel for 'protective award' for lost income for a notice period they claim should have been offered under UK and European law. They argue that there was a breach of the law by not giving them a 90-day notice period because more than 100 people were laid off.

But Neville Davis, chairman of Compel, told PC Dealer he was confident that the redundancies had been handled in a manner that was 'legal, decent and fair'. The reseller claimed that because the company's sites are scattered across the UK, they do not count as one establishment.

But Lewis and former Info'Products legal adviser George Fodor, who is also involved in the case, claimed there are legal precedents to support their argument.

Lewis cites a lawsuit in 1977 between bakers' firm Clarks of Hove and the Bakers Union, where employees were made redundant from different sites.

The company claimed that these represented different establishments, but the court found for the union.

See feature, page 33.