EMPLOYMENT law specialists were forced to pay compensation to a former client after she claimed they sued the wrong company.
Merseyside Employment Law (MEL) was sued by Christine Bigley, 23, after discovering her award for unfair dismissal was unenforceable because of the error.
Payroll administrator Miss Bigley had tried to take R&G Services Ltd, which was trading as Hi-flyers Recruitment Consultants, to a tribunal. But the action was brought against Hi-flyers Ltd.
MEL said the case against it was settled out of court and that it has never admitted any liability for the alleged error. Miss Bigley told LDP Legal: “I won what I thought was a claim for unfair dismissal against my former employers but the money never materialised. I was making no progress so I sought further legal advice.
“It soon became clear what the problem was; I was outraged to be told that the whole episode was nothing short of a charade. I had agonised over whether to pursue the claim in the first place and when I decided to go for it I then had to wait another six months for the hearing to commence.
“My life was effectively put on hold, and all for nothing. Merseyside Employment Law let me down.”
MEL agreed to pay Miss Bigley £8,000 compensation.
Her case was taken up by the professional negligence group at Armstrongs Solicitors. Team head Ian Carruthers said: “Unfortunately this is not a unique case, the level of professional incompetence from people like solicitors to accountants and beyond never ceases to amaze me. Once we identified what the problem was, we were then able to advice Miss Bigley accordingly.
“We are delighted she has won an award of compensation after all that she has been put through.”
MEL’s head of legal, James Nolan, said: “The matter was settled. There was no admission of liability. There was no admission of wrong doing.
“We were acting upon her [Miss Bigley’s] instructions, which can be evidenced. What she asked us to do is in black and white.
“Because we are a community law centre, we assist the poorer people in the community. Quite often they are told by their perceived employer that they are employed by company A, but quite often they are employed by company B.”
