Museum workers win employment tribunal case against council

Brighton & Hove City Council has lost an employment tribunal case brought by its museum staff over unlawful deductions from wages.

The GMB trade union said 12 staff who work in the city’s Royal Pavilion and museums information and security team lost a shift allowance following a re-organisation in 2013 - or were given a lower paid post or both - but were told their pay would not be cut during a four-year transition period to 31 March 2017.

But the union reported that in May 2016, the council said a clerical error had occurred and pay protection was limited to three years.

The  tribunal upheld claims that the contractual period was absolutely clear and had no ambiguity, and that employees were entitled to assume that the formal documentation issued by the council as their employer was correct.

Brighton & Hove was ordered to repay the unlawful deduction, the union said.

Charles Harrity, senior organiser of GMB southern region, said: “This is a shocking example of the council’s austerity drive. Time and time again we are seeing that it is the low paid workers who are being targeted.”

He said the council claimed it could not afford the correct pay yet “will not hesitate to spend thousands in legal fees in trying to justify its actions”.

A council spokesperson said: “We’re disappointed and will be studying the tribunal’s findings and any implications these may have.”