A firm of solicitors has been contacted by more than 20 former staff of the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI), who are looking to start an employment tribunal.
The parent company of the Edinburgh Filmhouse and Aberdeen Belmont cinemas - and the Edinburgh International Film Festival - filed for administration last week, with more than 100 employees made redundant as the sites closed.
Linder Myers specialises in protective award claims involving company insolvency. It claims to still be receiving enquiries from more former members of staff.
A spokeswoman for the firm told Insider: "Several former employees have told us that they were unaware of the fact that they were going to be made redundant and first became aware of their redundancy at the actual time they were made redundant on the 6 October at the meeting."
She explained that it is a legal requirement that the former staff and retained staff should have been collectively consulted with at least 30 days prior to their redundancy and proper procedures should have been carried out on their redundancy.
The CMI should have arranged an election for employee representatives and consulted with these elected representatives. This did not occur and all employees were dismissed without any form of consultation process taking place.
"As staff received no prior notice or consultation whatsoever, it is likely that staff could receive the maximum award," the law firm stated.
"We are taking it forward - if employees decide to join the claim - as several employees are often not aware of their right to a protective award claim and unfortunately miss out on the opportunity."
The affected employees could be entitled to an award of up to 90 days pay with up to eight weeks pay - capped at £571 per week - less any arrears of wages, being guaranteed by the government, if the claims to the tribunal are successful.
"Even though many companies are struggling due to challenging economic conditions, they still have a legal duty under employment law to consult with their employees who are at risk of redundancies - where there are 20 or more employees involved - even in cases of insolvency," the Linder Myers spokesperson continued.
Employees are not always aware of their right to pursue a protective award claim on their redundancy and only believe that they are entitled to the statutory redundancy payment claim. Additionally, unlike the statutory redundancy payment claim, a protective award claim is available to those who have been employed for under two years.
The original response from joint administrators FRP Advisory stated: "We will move promptly to support the staff with any applications to the Redundancy Payments Office for outstanding wages and/or holiday pay, and with accessing external employment support and training agencies, such as PACE."
The CMI has been contacted for further clarification and comment.
The Scotsman reported last week that the Scottish Government was warned by Creative Scotland about the CMI's financial state on 15 September, but a state bail-out was decided against.
The creative industries body stated that as a regularly funded organisation, there was dialogue between the two, with concerns initially raised in the middle of September.
“CMI informally tested the prospect of additional funding with Creative Scotland when we were informed of the severity of their financial challenges mid-September - we understand it was similarly tested with Aberdeen City Council and City of Edinburgh Council - but with no financial flexibility available, Creative Scotland indicated further additional funding was unlikely," read a statement from Creative Scotland.
“The Creative Scotland board were briefed and met on 3 October to discuss the situation and confirmed funding remained available if CMI could demonstrate ongoing viability.
“CMI and its professional advisors had continued to assess and discuss the financial position, but concluded that there were no available options, or time, in the current financial climate to change the underlying structural challenges of the business, or the longer-term prognosis.”
Filmmaker Paul Sng started a petition on Change.org to save the cinemas and festival, which has - at time of writing - collected almost 19,000 signatures.
It stated: "The film industry in Scotland is booming, bringing in approximately £567m to the Scottish economy annually, but a film is nothing without an audience and EIFF, Filmhouse and Belmont provide crucial exhibition spaces for cinema.
"Until more details are clear about how a path forward is possible, we are signing to declare our support for the organisations, the staff and the culture of these three cinematic institutions, and to lend our collective power to any steps that may reverse the effects of this decision."
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