Labour urges Kwasi Kwarteng to launch legal action against P&O Ferries

theguardian.com:

Labour has urged the business secretary to launch legal action against P&O Ferries over its “scandalous” decision to sack 800 workers without warning, which the party said is a criminal offence.

Shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, deputy leader Angela Rayner and shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds have written to Kwasi Kwarteng, asking if he will begin proceedings for what they called the “scandalous action” of the ferry company.

Under section 193 of the Trade Union Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, employers who want to make more than 100 people redundant have a duty to notify the business secretary of their plans, before giving notice to the workers. The employer is also required to do so at least 45 days before the dismissals.

P&O Ferries sacked 800 staff on Thursday, planning to replace them with cheaper agency workers. It has emerged that ministers were informed in advance about the mass redundancies.

In their letter to Kwarteng, the Labour MPs wrote: “An employer who fails to provide that notification is committing a criminal offence, and liable to an unlimited fine. It is for you, as secretary of state, to launch that action.”

They asked: “Will you be commencing criminal proceedings against P&O Ferries, as well as individual directors and managers as permitted under law? If not, could you explain why?”

Labour added: “If an exploitative employer can escape without any consequences for this egregious action, it will give the green light to bad bosses across the country.”

Kwarteng wrote to P&O Ferries on Friday, outlining the government’s “anger and disappointment” over the way the company had handled the redundancies. He asked the ferry company a series of questions about why it had failed to follow