Winner counts the cost of flawed ET system

HOW WRONGED FARM MANAGER RAISED EXTINCT BUSINESS FROM THE DEAD

It is almost two years since Tristan Jeffrey secured a deserved Employment Tribunal [ET] success against his former employers who breached his contract of employment, made unauthorised deductions from his wages, and even failed to pay his salary on occasions.

A further hearing was scheduled to fix a so-called 'remedy' payment for the unacceptable conduct of the directors of Avocet Agritech Ltd.- conduct which caused Mr Jeffrey severe long-term stress and left him considerably out of pocket.

But before those follow-up proceedings could be initiated the Agritech firm, a member of the controversial Avocet group of businesses, was struck off the Register of Companies under Section 1000 of the Companies Act 2006 (compulsory, non-filing) in August 2021. The directors had failed several times to submit annual accounts and confirmation statements.

Mr Jeffrey had been awarded an initial sum of £10,718 by ET judge Lesley Murphy who had also ordered Agritech's sister company Avocet Faculties to pay a colleague of Mr Jeffrey £9,500 for - among other things - unfair dismissal.

Unfortunately, Mr Jeffrey who managed farming activities in Berwickshire for Avocet chairman Martin Frost is just one of thousands of individuals who never receive the money due to them in cases where unscrupulous management simply ignore ET rulings. 

There is no enforcement procedure, and many wronged workers give up in sheer frustration and deep disappointment. Despite calls for a toughening up of the system, there has been no sign of meaningful Government intervention.

The only initiative from Westminster which was supposed to strengthen the hand of successful ET claimants has turned out to be an unadulterated failure.

As The Guardian newspaper reported in April: "The government has failed to name and shame a single employer four years after pledging to provide an online list of rogue bosses who refuse to pay workers money won at employment tribunal. In 2018, the government announced they would make the “largest upgrade in a generation to workplace rights”, adding they would deliver “the government’s commitment to build an economy that works for all”.

As part of that announcement, they threatened to publicly identify employers who failed to pay employment tribunal awards within a reasonable time on a database called the Employment Tribunal Naming Scheme.

But, as the Guardian article revealed, a Freedom of Information request had shown that in the wake of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) pledge four years ago, they were notified 3,713 times about bosses failing to pay successful claimants their money. To their shame, they had not named a single employer up to April this year when the database remained blank.

However, unlike many of those who have thrown in the towel, Mr Jeffrey remains fiercely determined to fight on, and has spent a great deal of time and a significant amount of his hard-earned cash in his quest for justice.

In the lead up to the original tribunal hearing, Mr Jeffrey faced a barrage of written abuse from Mr Frost although when the case was called in Glasgow Agritech failed to show face despite multiple attempts to contact the company's directors by tribunal staff.

In a written document submitted to the tribunal service in July 2020 Mr Frost wrote of Mr Jeffrey: "Claimant has been paid, indeed overpaid for the actual time worked.

"Claimant has not been charged with the theft of the items from Harcarse Hill farm (where Mr Jeffrey worked) though a report has gone to the PF (Procurator Fiscal) involving colleagues of the claimant re the theft of some £550,000 of items. That said, the claimant civilly is likely to be sued for perceived theft involvement as he left the keys in the vehicles which were stolen and attempted to erase the CCTV. Claimant is under investigation for another potential fraud from Avocet involving over £400,000".

The target for Mr Frost's repeated attacks has never been charged with any offence. And he has yet to be sued in the civil courts.

After receiving the tribunal decision, Mr Jeffrey told us: "“Throughout this ordeal the Avocet directors have either, lied, blamed each other, or totally ignored all requests for information.

"Eirlys Lloyd, the company secretary, was unable to tell me who dealt with payroll. There were also allegations in company emails which shockingly implied that I was on drugs.

"False accusations of harassment, blackmail, theft, fraud, and destruction of evidence, are all still ongoing, 14 months after my redundancy. These false accusations all because I asked for my unpaid wages, expenses, and redundancy payment."

Mr Jeffrey has now notched up another legal 'win' which will allow his remedy hearing to be held before an ET judge.

He explained: "I was due to have a second hearing to determine remedy. This is where the problems started. I was required to provide evidence to show that I was still pursuing my claim against Avocet Agritech to prevent the company from being struck-off. Unfortunately, due to the slow response times from the ET caused by the pandemic I did not receive the required evidence in time. The company was therefore struck-off and I was denied a hearing."

Mr Jeffrey was advised that as a creditor of his ex-employers one way to proceed would be to have Agritech reinstated to the Register of Companies -  a relatively rare course of action in such circumstances.

"To have the company reinstated I had to issue a claim form with supporting evidence to show that I was owed money by the company. I used the services of a solicitor as I believed Avocet could contest the application and we all know how they like to confuse matters."

The reinstatement application, submitted to the County Court at Central London, was granted by district judge Revere with the consent of a lawyer representing Companies House.

The exercise has cost Mr Jeffrey a total of £1,575, including £300 for the Registrar of Companies' legal fees and a court fee of £280. He has been informed that Agritech 'rose from the dead' so to speak on May 23rd, and is now back in business for the "raising of other cattle and buffaloes."

A letter from Companies House states: "Upon its restoration, the company is deemed to have continued in existence as if it had not been dissolved or struck off the register and any assets are now held by the company. The company will remain on the register for five years. If matters have not been completed
within that time, you will need to contact Companies House by 31 May 2028 to extend the
period further.".

Said Mr Jeffrey: "It is shocking how difficult and costly it’s been to get to this stage. I did at one stage try to arrange for an enforcement/collection officer to collect payment. But because the company had been struck-off that proved to be a dead end."

The question is: why should Mr Jeffrey have to embark on this tortuous and costly journey in a bid to get the money he is entitled to? A radical shake-up of the entire system is surely required as a matter of urgency.

Several other Avocet group companies have been the subject of ET awards to claimants in recent years. 

They include Iain Munro, a former employee of Avocet IP Ltd. (awarded £177,313 for unlawful deduction of wages); Robert Harris (worked for Avocet H20 Ltd awarded £17,095 for unfair dismissal and unauthorised deduction of wages); Neil Brigham (ex-employee of Avocet Farms Ltd awarded £7,735 for unauthorised deduction of wages); and Sarah Shotton (worked for Avocet Faculties awarded £9,588 for unfair dismissal and breach of employment contract).

Mr Frost and his wife Janet Orr Frost who are still listed at Companies House as 'active' directors of Avocet Agritech, are the subject of bankruptcy orders imposed by a judge in October 2021. The third officer of the restored company is the secretary, Eirlys Lloyd Company Services Ltd. The registered address is in Berwick-on-Tweed.