Entitlement to enhanced pay

Case 5: The facts

An enhanced redundancy package was included in a collective agreement at Mr Sykes's workplace when his employment transferred. The scheme allowed employees to apply for voluntary redundancy, with the terms of the scheme to be offered at management's discretion.

Sykes was made redundant and claimed the right to enhanced redundancy pay, but the employer refused to pay him.

The ruling

The EAT held that the result of the collective agreement was that, once an employee had been accepted for redundancy, s/he gained an entitlement to the enhanced payment. The discretionary element of the scheme only related to the right to apply for redundancy.

Powermarque v Sykes UKEAT/0954/03