FORMER staff at Dunfermline’s Palmer and Harvey depot are set to receive a cash payout after a court decision.

A total of 151 jobs were lost at the Pitreavie Business Park premises in November 2017 after the company entered administration.

This week, Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) announced it had “won justice” for workers after an employment tribunal in Manchester granted a “protective award” because staff were not properly consulted about their redundancy, as required by law.

The union’s general secretary, Paddy Lillis, has now called for a change in the law to prevent similar situations happening again. He said: “Yet again the taxpayer will have to pick up the bill for what is owed to sacked staff because administrators deliberately flouted the law,” he said.

“It’s absolutely disgraceful that companies can get away with this sort of tactic in the 21st century.

“The former staff at Palmer & Harvey have had to wait well over a year for this decision, having already been through the trauma of losing their job and being forced to seek justice through a lengthy tribunal process.

“The company and administrators made no attempt to consult or treat staff with dignity and respect as they were immediately removed from their workplace with no notice.

“Not only were the staff treated very badly in the first place, they have suffered a long wait for justice.

“The complete failure of the company to consult with the union when it clearly knew it was in difficulties is reflected in the tribunal’s decision to make a maximum award to the former staff.

“This area of law requires review because it is riddled with injustices for both workers and taxpayers as liability to pay the protective awards when companies are in administration falls to the government’s insolvency fund.

“The government needs to end the perverse financial incentive for employers and administrators not to comply with legal obligations on collective redundancy consultation.”