Sacked staff take ITV Digital to tribunal

The spectre of the disastrous ITV Digital venture will return to haunt Carlton and Granada this week when a group of former employees goes to a tribunal in an attempt to get compensation for the way they were sacked.

The 150 former head-office workers claim Carlton and Granada did not undertake the 90 days' consultation or offer money in lieu due to them when it made the ITV Digital workforce redundant last Spring.

If successful, the group will consider bringing a High Court case against the media companies, joint owners of ITV Digital, which was declared insolvent a year ago with losses of £1bn.

The employees say many of them stayed with the pay-TV venture, after it was clear that it was under severe financial pressure, because of the promise of being well compensated if it were closed.

The workers say Carlton and Granada led them to believe they would receive three months' worth of salary, on top of redundancy payments, in the event of closure.

When employees were sacked in April last year, there was no notice and 90 days' money was not awarded. Workers were given four weeks salary, as a redundancy payment, plus one week's worth of wages for every year of service.

One former employee said: "We hung on at ITV Digital, rather than go for other jobs, when we knew the business was in trouble, because Carlton and Granada assured us that we would be properly taken care of. That three months money would have made a big difference to a lot of us, especially the younger ones."

Former employees of the ITV Digital call centres are pursuing their legal action. Workers said that their treatment was particularly galling, having seen how well top Carlton and Granada executives are taken care of.

Earlier this month, Charles Allen, Granada's chairman, came under fire from shareholders at the company's annual general meeting, for the two-year contract he enjoys. This would see him claim a multimillion-pound payout if he was sacked. Steve Morrison, Granada's former chief executive, walked away with a £1m pay-off last year.

The Employment Tribunal hearing, which is due to start tomorrow, can only award of maximum of £2,000 to each worker and the payment will come from the Government.