TUPE
Author
Discussion

Pilchard

Original Poster:

57 posts

164 months

Wednesday 2nd December 2015
quotequote all
Are there any hard and fast rules regarding which employees are included in a TUPE transfer?

Is everybody who spends more than x% of their time on the business that's being transferred included? Or is it more complicated than that?

Reason I ask is that the company I work for has just lost a large contract and whilst I myself don't spend a lot of time on the client, my immediate colleagues do and they are naturally concerned.


davek_964

11,216 posts

204 months

Wednesday 2nd December 2015
quotequote all
Not sure I understand the question. TUPE is used when part / all of the business is being transferred to new owners. What has that to do with losing a client? Is part / all of your company being sold?

If it is - and TUPE applies - then surely those who work for the part of the business that's being sold will be transferred to new owners and will go through TUPE.

edc

9,620 posts

280 months

Wednesday 2nd December 2015
quotequote all
The question arises because without said customer/contract then there is no need for some or all of those staff servicing that account. There are particular provisions for service provision changes which is the part that normally applies to contract changes.

Having worked in contract services you often find that the incumbent company will do it's utmost to hold onto the 'best' staff and in some industries will actively rotate out the best ones with the worst ones to ensure they get rid of 'dead wood'.

There is no defined amount of time that one must be working on a contract for TUPE to apply.

Muzzer79

13,032 posts

216 months

Wednesday 2nd December 2015
quotequote all
edc said:
The question arises because without said customer/contract then there is no need for some or all of those staff servicing that account. There are particular provisions for service provision changes which is the part that normally applies to contract changes.

Having worked in contract services you often find that the incumbent company will do it's utmost to hold onto the 'best' staff and in some industries will actively rotate out the best ones with the worst ones to ensure they get rid of 'dead wood'.

There is no defined amount of time that one must be working on a contract for TUPE to apply.
This.

The company will define people's roles in relation to the contract that they have lost. The people they wish to TUPE over will need to be demonstrably dedicated to that account for the majority of their time. There isn't a defined percentage of time allocated to it - it's open to interpretation.

Normally, companies have the heads up that a contract loss is imminent and as edc says, will re-jig staff allocation to lose the weakest.

anonymous-user

83 months

Wednesday 2nd December 2015
quotequote all
This raises what is known as the Botzen principle (Botzen being the ECJ case that established the principle). The question is whether the employee is assigned to the part of the undertaking that is transferred. It is a question of fact in each case whether or not an employee is so assigned.

Pilchard

Original Poster:

57 posts

164 months

Thursday 3rd December 2015
quotequote all
Thanks for all the replies.

Yes, it is a service provision change. The reason I ask is that some of my team have spent quite a large proportion of their time servicing said client in the last 2 years and I'm a bit concerned they will be included in the TUPE transfer.

I'm sure we'll know more in the coming weeks/months.