Ex-Donaldsons staff win £500,000 compensation

DTZ has had to pay out more than £500,000 in compensation to disgruntled former Donaldsons employees. Around 40-55 individuals threatened to take DTZ to the Employment Tribunal in 2007. However, the agent has agreed to pay them compensation of up to four months’ salary, on the condition that the staff agree that they have no recourse to make a further claim. The former Donaldsons employees – many of whom have now left DTZ – claimed that they were not properly consulted about DTZ’s £48.6m takeover of Donaldsons in July 2007, and that their rights under TUPE regulations had been breached. Chris Balch, UK and Ireland managing director at DTZ, said: “It was unfortunate that the process arose, but we put in a lot of time and effort and settled it before the end of calendar year 2007.” Last month, the global firm issued a profits warning, saying that “the Donaldsons acquisition and the market downturn are likely to involve some exceptional one-off costs in restructuring”. The payment adds to a series of woes endured by DTZ, which has seen its share price plummet 60% to 221p following the acquisition of the 650-strong Donaldsons nine months ago. As many as 200 former Donaldsons employees are thought to have left the business since July 2007, with more having quit its London and Birmingham offices in the past week. DTZ refused to confirm the total number of Donaldsons departures, saying: “DTZ does not differentiate between former Donaldsons and legacy DTZ employees. We are confident that our rate of attrition is in line with competitors, and is comparable to last year.”