Does TUPE protect "Custom and practice"?
Discussion
Afternoon all,
I've done a quick search and couldn't see anything that closely fits our situation, so wondered if anyone would be kind enough to share any experience they have on the following? My apologies for using an anonymous profile - there are a number of employees on PH and some of the details make it easy to put 2+2 together.
My employer is currently TUPEing the logistics arm of our company to a logistics specialist - a couple of hundred vans & drivers are being transferred across within the next week. The consultation process has been ongoing for months and unfortunately we have not been able to reach a compromise on some big changes the new company want to make.
- Our drivers have taken their vans home (for use to/from work only, so no tax liability) for roughly 10 years. The new company want to remove this benefit, whilst at the same time relocating some depots so that staff now face up to 40 miles travel to work.
- We currently work annualised hours, and either have an unpenalised 'job and finish' or get paid overtime in December for any hours over our yearly total. The new company want to change this to a 9.6 hour daily contract, and insist that we remain on site until the 9.6 hours are up regardless of how soon we finish the work.
The annualised hours are in our contracts and we thought that under TUPE this could not be touched. The use of the vans however is not, and stands to leave many staff members significantly out of pocket. Most of us do not have private transport to get to/from work as this was an assumed benefit of the job, as the unsocial hours make it difficult to share the family car with a spouse who also needs to get to work. On a delivery driver's wage, buying a 2nd car at short notice is going to prove difficult for many of the guys.
The new company have offered either a) £6/day for 2 months or b) continued use of the vans for 2 months.
Does TUPE offer any protection at all for benefits like this, even where not clearly written into a contract?
Thanks in advance
I've done a quick search and couldn't see anything that closely fits our situation, so wondered if anyone would be kind enough to share any experience they have on the following? My apologies for using an anonymous profile - there are a number of employees on PH and some of the details make it easy to put 2+2 together.
My employer is currently TUPEing the logistics arm of our company to a logistics specialist - a couple of hundred vans & drivers are being transferred across within the next week. The consultation process has been ongoing for months and unfortunately we have not been able to reach a compromise on some big changes the new company want to make.
- Our drivers have taken their vans home (for use to/from work only, so no tax liability) for roughly 10 years. The new company want to remove this benefit, whilst at the same time relocating some depots so that staff now face up to 40 miles travel to work.
- We currently work annualised hours, and either have an unpenalised 'job and finish' or get paid overtime in December for any hours over our yearly total. The new company want to change this to a 9.6 hour daily contract, and insist that we remain on site until the 9.6 hours are up regardless of how soon we finish the work.
The annualised hours are in our contracts and we thought that under TUPE this could not be touched. The use of the vans however is not, and stands to leave many staff members significantly out of pocket. Most of us do not have private transport to get to/from work as this was an assumed benefit of the job, as the unsocial hours make it difficult to share the family car with a spouse who also needs to get to work. On a delivery driver's wage, buying a 2nd car at short notice is going to prove difficult for many of the guys.
The new company have offered either a) £6/day for 2 months or b) continued use of the vans for 2 months.
Does TUPE offer any protection at all for benefits like this, even where not clearly written into a contract?
Thanks in advance
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff