ROYAL Pavilion security guards were overpaid more than £15,000 and then the city council wrongly withheld contracted payments from staff, an employment tribunal has heard.

A dozen council employees who guarded the “jewel in the Brighton crown” were denied protection pay of up to £1,200 each following a job cutting reorganisation in 2012.

The GMB said the council’s failure to settle the case at an earlier stage had tripled the cost to the taxpayer.

The union also raised concerns similar errors hitting low wage employees could be repeated as responsibility for the Pavilion is transferred into a trust from this April.

The dispute arose from a reorganisation of the security team in 2012 which saw more than 30 jobs under threat.

Staff at risk of redundancy were invited to express a preference for vacant posts with pay protection designed to ensure low-paid staff were not out of pocket from loss of shifts or by accepting lower paid posts.

By May 2013 the council realised they had made an error in writing up the contracts by offering pay protection until March this year rather than for three years until 2016 as per standard council procedure.

The GMB issued a collective grievance after the council stopped the enhanced pay without warning in May.

A tribunal hearing sitting in Brighton upheld the employees’ claims stating there was no ambiguity about when the pay protection period would run to while staff had no reason to be aware of the council’s error.

Judge Christopher Baron said: “Such policies may be dealt with on a day-to-day basis by the human resources department.

“On a day-to-day basis the claimants were responsible for that jewel in the Brighton crown, the Royal Pavilion.”

Gary Palmer, GMB Southern Region organiser, said the dispute cost the council an “awful lot more” by taking it to a tribunal hearing.

The council was represented by Essex Court barrister Victoria von Wachter while the 12 employees were represented Nicola Newbegin who was a junior counsel at the tribunal hearing of former Chelsea physio Dr Eva Carneiro.

He said: “The reality of this case is that these workers are already on a low wage and struggling to make ends meet and further cuts to terms and conditions can have devastating consequences.”

Lead claimant Nicholas Kay said he and his colleagues were all very pleased with the outcome and thanked the GMB’s support in making the result possible.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said: “We’ll be studying the tribunal’s findings and assessing any implications.”