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20 May 2022 / Charles Pigott
Issue: 7979 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Unfair dismissals—stormy waters ahead?

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Mass dismissal of P&O staff has shed a light on limitations of UK labour law, says Charles Pigott
  • The sudden dismissal of 786 seafarers by P&O in March 2022 has led the Government to announce a new statutory code of practice.
  • Their replacement with cheaper agency workers has also illustrated the territorial limitations of the UK’s National Minimum Wage legislation.

The dismissal of nearly 800 staff by various companies in the P&O group in mid-March without prior consultation or notice, led to widespread calls for more to be done to protect workers in the context of mass redundancies. It also provides an illustration of how the legal regime, which applies to international shipping companies, even if some of their operations are based in the UK, differs significantly from that applying to shore-based businesses.

Collective redundancies legislation

Like most domestic employment protection legislation, the provisions on collective redundancies in Part IV Chapter II of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA) extend to employees who have a sufficiently close connection

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