AN attempt to have the cases of 39 current and former players and staff of the Bradford Bulls thrown out has been dismissed at an employment tribunal.

The Rugby Football League attempted to have the cases struck off, but Employment Judge David Jones rejected the proposal at Leeds Employment Tribunal today.

A total of 46 current and former players and staff have made claims regarding wages, holiday pay, notice pay, and potential statutory redundancy payments.

Current players involved include Dane Chisholm, Liam Kirk, and Jon Magrin, along with ex-players Chev Walker, Phil Joseph, Lachlan Burr, and Adam Sidlow, who is the lead claimant.

Mr Sidlow, who now plays for the Toronto Wolfpack in League 1, was present at the hearing.

The case follows Bradford Bulls Northern Limited entering administration in November 2016, before being put into liquidation in January 2017, and a new club being formed by Bradford Bulls 2017 Limited around two weeks later to compete in the Kingstone Press Championship, with a 12-point deduction.

The RFL had argued that 39 claims out of a total of 46 should be struck off for non-compliance with the ACAS Early Conciliation Process (ECP).

Andrew Sugarman, who represented the RFL in the hearing, claimed the 39 claimants could not issue proceedings without individually complying with the requirement for early conciliation, and could not rely on other claimants to have completed the ECP in relation to the same dispute.

The ECP is a way to try and reach a settlement with employers quickly if an agreement cannot be agreed directly with an employer.

Mr Sugarman said that of the 46 claimants, only Mr Sidlow, Mr Walker, Mr Chisholm, Mr Joseph, and Samuel Boyden, a former ticket office supervisor, had early conciliation certificates.

He argued: “The requirement is for each individual claimant to provide the prescribed information in the prescribed manner.

“One claimant can provide the prescribed information on behalf of another claimant, however this did not happen in relation to 39 of the claimants as they are not named on any of the five early conciliation certificates.”

He also argued that the claims could not be treated as the same dispute, but Thomas Kibling, representing the claimants, said all the claimants are raising the same matters arising out of the same dispute.

Richard Cramer, who is also representing the claimants, gave evidence at the hearing to explain many of the claimants had individually started the EPC and had listed him as their representative, and he was told by ACAS he only had to attach their case references to the list of claimants.

Employment Judge David Jones dismissed the proposals put forward by the RFL, and said rejecting the claims for not being part of the same dispute would be an “absurd technicality”.

A seven day tribunal hearing will take place at Leeds Employment Tribunal in January 2018.