A former Lloydspharmacy employee has been granted a total of £8,718 at an employment tribunal over her dismissal from the multiple, according to a judgement published last week (May 2).

Pharmacy technician Alexandra Crisan brought a claim against the now-defunct multiple over redundancy payment and costs for “breach of contract”, the decision papers reveal.

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Crisan had a long career at Lloydspharmacy, starting out as a delivery driver for the multiple in 2017 and rising from healthcare assistant in 2019 to store manager by 2021.

She left Lloydspharmacy in July 2023 and is currently employed in a primary care network (PCN) as a pharmacy technician.

In a decision dated March 27, Employment Judge Ord found in Crisan’s favour on two points.

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Lloydspharmacy was found to have breached its contract with Crisan “in respect of notice” when it dismissed her and is required to pay her £5,337.

The ex-multiple was also found to have dismissed Crisan “by reason of redundancy”, meaning she is entitled to £3,381 in redundancy payments, according to the decision.

C+D approached Lloydspharmacy’s liquidator Turpin Barker Armstrong (TBA) for comment.

 

Ongoing legal action

 

It comes amid various ongoing court proceedings between the multiple and its former workers.

In April, the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) announced that former Sainsbury’s workers claiming enhanced redundancy from the Lloydspharmacy estate would persist in their legal action against the defunct multiple.

Their case will be heard in March 2025, despite a possible victory offering “no realistic hope” of full compensation due to the company’s liquidation, it said at the time.

Read more: March 2025 hearing set for former Lloydspharmacy staff redundancy row

In July, C+D reported that “almost 100” former Lloydspharmacy workers in Sainsbury’s stores were headed to court in an effort to access enhanced redundancy benefits. 

The action came after internal recourse for the workers had been exhausted, with the company ruling that the workers “do not have a contractual right” to enhanced redundancy payments and confirmed that it would instead offer only statutory benefits.

The workers were transferred from Sainsbury’s to Lloydspharmacy in 2016 under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE).

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But when they were made redundant by Lloydspharmacy after the multiple elected to shut all of its 237 branches in Sainsbury’s stores, they only received statutory redundancy benefits - “the bare minimum…in law” - rather than the enhanced redundancy benefits that they were entitled to as Sainsbury’s employees, according to the PDA.

The PDA also launched another legal process on behalf of pharmacists formerly employed by Lloydspharmacy in September after some of its members reported “changes to working practices” following the sales of pharmacies in the Lloydspharmacy estate in which they work.

 

Liquidation latest

 

Meanwhile, C+D last week reported that a Jhoots branch had become the third premises to be repossessed by bailiffs in connection with Lloydspharmacy’s liquidation, just two months after another pharmacy repossession landed a patient in hospital.

The news came after the former landlord of the head office of Lloydspharmacy’s holding company challenged the holding company’s liquidation. 

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It called for the actions of its former owner Aurelius to be independently and fully scrutinised to check compliance with “all relevant laws”.

And C+D revealed that Lloydspharmacy’s former owner Hallo Healthcare Group (HHG) paid out a £405 million dividend to its shareholders, according to its annual report published last month.