An employment tribunal has rejected an attempt from the Rugby Football League to have over three-quarters of the cases against them launched earlier this year struck out.
TotalRL was in attendance at Leeds Employment Tribunal for a preliminary hearing into a case first revealed by League Express earlier this year – with 47 current and former employees of Bradford Bulls launching legal proceedings against the old company – Bradford Bulls Northern Limited – the RFL and the new company – Bradford Bulls 2017 Limited.
And a full seven-day hearing will now take place in January 2018 after the RFL’s attempts to throw out 39 of the 47 claimants’ proceedings were dismissed by Employment Judge David Jones.
The governing body’s legal team argued the 39 cases should be struck off in relation to non-compliance with the ACAS Early Conciliation Process (ECP). That, however, was rejected.
It also emerged at the hearing that current Bradford players such as Dane Chisholm and Jon Magrin are among the claimants – while former Bulls prop Adam Sidlow is the lead claimant. He was in attendance at the tribunal on Wednesday.
The claims revolve around issues such as wages, holiday pay, notice pay, and potential statutory redundancy payments.
