CB & Associates provides a complete and comprehensive TUPE service, including:
- Due diligence prior to employee transfer
- Disclosure of employee liability by previous employer
- Notification obligations to employees
- New employer obligations
- Legal advice on issues such as employees refusal to transfer, pension rights and continuity of service
What is TUPE?
TUPE is the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 which is a legislative requirement to protect employees on the sale of the business in which they are employed, or where services cease to be provided by one employer and instead are provided by another.
TUPE legislation aims to maintain an employee's continuity of employment and enjoyment of the same terms and conditions under the new employer as well as the old one. That means:
- New Employer inherits employees and employee liabilities incurred by old employer on date of transfer
- Neither new nor old employer can dismiss an employee purely because of the transfer or a reason connected with the transfer
- Transferring employees retain their existing terms and conditions (which may be different from the existing staff)
Dismissal can occur when there is an economic, technical or organisational reason which entails changes in numbers or job functions of the workforce (eg redundancies). Fair procedures must still be followed.
Due Diligence
Disclosure of Employee Liability Information
As part of the due diligence process, the previous employer must disclose employees details such as name, age, job title, place of work, pay, annual leave, sick pay, terms and conditions of employment. Any other information required can be agreed at negotiations.
Notification Obligations
Employees must be informed 30 days prior to transfer taking place. The new employer must inform the previous employer if they envisage any redundancies. Where redundancies occur after transfer, the new employer's staff need to be in that pool too. If any of the previous employer's staff are to be affected by the transfer, their representatives must be notified. In certain circumstances, consultation may also be required.
New Employer Obligations
The new employer needs to provide employees with written notification of their new employer, start date with new employer and date of continuous service (date they started with previous employer).
Continuity of Service
Continuity of employment is preserved for employees who transfer over to new employer. It is especially important for unfair dismissal and statutory redundancy pay where the reckonable start date must be calculated as the start date with the previous employer, not the new employer.
