18 December 2020
Dear Member
Further to meetings of the Arcadia National Representatives Group and the liquidator, Deloitte and Touche, we can report the following:-
Both sides discussed in detail the following areas of concern – the liquidators obligation to notify the relevant Minister that it was initiating the current consultative process, pensions, the current and operational Collective Agreement in respect of redundancies, the liquidators position where employees seek and gain employment before any redundancy terms are applicable, any holidays that are owed, redundancy payment calculations, and current wage arrears in the December payroll.
- Minster notification – after general discussion it was agreed that the liquidator would forward as legally obliged it’s correspondence to Mandate for due review and potential Mandate response.
- Pensions – again after considerable discussion, the liquidator agreed to examine if it could legally accede to Mandate’s request to forward the correspondence(s) it had sent to the relevant Department on this matter.
- Collective Redundancy Agreement – Whilst both sides respected each other’s positions Mandate emphatically stated our commitment to this agreement and reserved the right to continue representations on same.
- Financial Information – The liquidator acceded to Mandate’s request that it forward any and all possible and actual amounts re asset sales and obligatory payments to creditors, etc
- Potential Employment Prospects Ahead of Redundancy Date(s) – Mandate stated its view that there was a potential legal obligation on the liquidator to honour an employees right to prepare and access any gainful employment ahead of their stated redundancy date(s), but still retain an entitlement to their redundancy. The liquidator agreed to examine this and stated it was not averse to ensuring that employees in this situation would lose out.
- Accrued Owed Holidays – the liquidator advised the departmental position was that any accrued holiday owed monies would be capped at a maximum of 8 weeks.
- Wage Arrears in December Payroll – the liquidator agreed that where there was no relevant manager in situ to sign off on any December wage deficiencies, that the same would be referred to a designated representative of the liquidator who was also on the conference call. Where this has arisen within your store please ensure you make due contact with Mandate for the contact details.
Mandate will ensure that the above will be put in writing to the liquidator this evening and request their responses as appropriate.
It has been agreed that both sides will again meet at 11am on Thursday the 7th January 2020 following which we will keep you posted as far as possible of the discussion therein.
Whilst we appreciate these are very difficult and concerning times for you and your families, we on behalf of Mandate want to reassure you that we will do all within our power to continue to keep you updated and informed of any further developments as and when they arise. In the absence of that we would like to wish you and yours the best of Xmas wishes.
Yours fraternally
The Arcadia National Representative Group