Failure to Inform and Consult

It's taken three years, but we have the first award by the EAT for failure by an employer to inform and consult under the Information and Consultation of Employee Regulations 2004.

Macmillan Publishers Ltd. failed to arrange a ballot to elect employee representatives following a valid request. This was the third occasion on which Macmillan was in breach of the ICE Regulations.

Whilst the CAC can make a declaration that the procedures have been breached, only the EAT can impose a financial penalty (of up to £75,000).

The EAT considered that this was a "significant failure, because it must have been plain, reading the legislation, that the relevant provisions were being ignored at almost every stage" (para 18). Elias P. analysed the purpose behind the ICE Regulations and set out some factors to take into account at paras. 21-25. The EAT then imposed a penalty of £55,000, recognising that although there was a very serious breach, it was not the most serious breach that could be envisaged.

Amicus v Macmillan Publishers