Persimmon, Britain’s largest housebuilder, is being sued for £866,000 by two former managing directors of Westbury, the rival housebuilder that it bought in January for £643m.
In the claim, issued on 12 October but which has now been made public, Christine Harris and David Mills are suing Persimmon for damages for breach of contract and wrongful dismissal.
According to the writ, they were made redundant in February and given six and 12 months’ notice respectively. But Harris and Mills claim that they were summarily dismissed one month later on the ground that the workload at the firm was such that their services were no longer needed.
The terms of their contracts provided that summary dismissal was acceptable only in specific circumstances, such as committing gross misconduct or being convicted of a crime that was punishable with at least six months’ imprisonment.
At the time of dismissal, Harris and Mills were receiving salaries of £100,000pa and £160,000pa respectively and were included in bonus schemes and a long-term incentive plan.
Harris is claiming £136,000 in damages and Mills is claiming £730,000.
Persimmon declined to comment.
References: EGi Legal News 01/12/06
