Morrish litigator negotiates SERP settlement for TSSA member
A former British Rail employee, whose employer had refused to pay his early retirement benefit after making him redundant, has won a settlement for the amount owed following intervention by his trade union’s solicitors.
John Ryan, of West Sussex, was employed as a telecom technician by British Rail under their standard ‘Red Book’ terms and conditions. Following privatisation in 1992 his employment was transferred to British Rail Telecoms Ltd in the ‘protected transfer’, meaning he retained the ‘Red Book’ terms and conditions which include an agreement to pay a lump sum on redundancy or early retirement, known as a special early retirement pension or SERP.
In March 2010 Mr Ryan, now a Senior Project Manager, was made redundant by the company, which is now known as Global Crossing (UK) Telecommunications Ltd. Mr Ryan had heard about SERP from another former British Rail colleague on his pay grade. In his discussions with his employer, Mr Ryan was informed in writing that SERP had “ceased prior to the transfer of BRT to Racal Electronics”. This was not the case.
Mr Ryan, a member of Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association, informed his branch rep who referred the matter to Morrish Solicitors. “The union was quite quick in passing my case on to the solicitors,” said Mr Ryan, speaking earlier today. “It was a strong case.”
Not only had Global Crossing’s HR department denied SERP applied, they failed to correctly advise Mr Ryan on what was needed to preserve his SERP benefit. Global Crossing agreed to settle Mr Ryan’s losses for £89,000 and bear his legal costs so that justice was obtained at no cost to him or TSSA.
Speaking of his experience Mr Ryan said “I was disappointed in my treatment by Global Crossing’s HR department. What I cannot understand is that the HR manager who told me that SERP had ceased is himself ex-Railway. My thanks to TSSA, who have been brilliant, and Rob at Morrish Solicitors.”
Rob Anderson said “This is a classic example of a client who, had he not been a member of a trade union and had access to legal support, might not have been able to pursue what was clearly a legitimate and significant claim. Once we issued Court proceedings and the company instructed their solicitors, we were able to settle the matter fairly quickly and Mr Ryan essentially received his full entitlement.
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