Diss-based Norfolk Feather Company workers win pay battle

Workers who lost their jobs when a feather bedding company went into liquidation have won their battle for pay awards.

More than 40 staff lost their jobs when Norfolk Feather Company, based in Park Road, Diss, closed its doors suddenly last October.

Workers were told by bosses that the company, which made pillows and duvets, had entered into voluntary liquidation and had ceased trading.

A group of 28 former workers made a claim for wages on the grounds that bosses had not consulted trade union representatives about the proposed dismissals.

An employment tribunal has now found that a protective pay award should be paid to the workers, who were dismissed as redundant in October.

At a shareholders’ meeting in November, the resolution was passed to voluntarily wind up the company, with Thomas Guthrie and John Rimmer, of BRI Business Recovery and Insolvency, appointed liquidators.

The company supplied pillows to Harrods, amongst other outlets.

More than 130 creditors were listed for big and small sums.

Hopes of further investment or support loans to keep the company afloat did not materialise

Last week, the tribunal found that the employees’ complaint that the company failed to comply with a requirement of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 was “well founded”.

It found that the award should be in respect of the protected period which began at the date of the claimants’ dismissal, and that the employees should be each awarded 90 days pay