Employment (law) question

[Doofus]

Jack is employed by ACME Products plc. ACME have a "we never re-hire ex-employees" policy. Yes, really.

Jack leaves ACME and goes to work for Hopscotch International.

Two years later, ACME buys Hopscotch, and isn't too chuffed to find Jack there, due to above policy, and to no other reason.

What can ACME do, and what are Jack's rights?

[Crafty_]

Interesting situation isn't it.

Jack is now an employee of ACME again and as such must be protected by employment law ?
As in, if he is made redundant they'd better have a good reason why, if they don't he can claim unfair dismissal ?

[edc]

Nothing you can do about it apart from dismissal via the normal routes. It is perfectly possible to dismiss somebody then find they are employed in an acquired business.

[Doofus]

Crafty_ said:

Interesting situation isn't it.

Jack is now an employee of ACME again and as such must be protected by employment law ?
As in, if he is made redundant they'd better have a good reason why, if they don't he can claim unfair dismissal ?

Exactly. Hmmm....

[Custard Test]

ACME cant do anything, employee is employed by Hopscotch and may have full employment rights (As long as they have passed probation and have one years continuous employment, If employed less than a year and not passed probation make sure you cover yourself as per below.)

Address this ASAP and get it in writing from ACME and Hopscotch that they agree that this clause cannot apply to the employee in this circumstance. ACME did not rehire this person they bought Hopscotch that the employee worked for and are in no position to "rid" themselves of this employee due to this clause in their terms of employment.

I say over prepare and cover your Ass whether the employee has been there a year or not, in all my years in HR I can honestly say it will come back to bite you if you don't cover absolutly every scenario. This is why I always get it in writing!

[edc]

Having thought about htis further, depending on the size of the acquired business/contract, then if you find yourself in this situation then your due diligence is to blame. As part of the contract you could get the acquired business/owners exit any individual and indemnify you for any fall-out.

[Doofus]

edc said:

Having thought about htis further, depending on the size of the acquired business/contract, then if you find yourself in this situation then your due diligence is to blame.

I agree absolutely.

It's a situation I've not encountered before, and as far as I'm concerned, the only options they have are to a) suck it up or b) a Compromise Agreement, but I wondered what input others here may have.

[davepoth]

Interesting one, but ACME don't really have any comeback. Obviously they'll now try to either make him redundant or performance manage him out of the business, so it may be the time to lay the cards on the table.

[Beardy10]

I don't think ACME's policy of not hiring ex-employees has any bearing at all on employment law so I think Jack's rights are as they would have been had ACME not bought Hopscotch. Having said that as has already been pointed out they may try to exit Jack through appraisal etc....really depends what the reasons were for Jack leaving ACME...was it performance based/personality clash etc ?

I remember when I worked for a company that got bought out...we all had to eventually sign new contracts with our new employer but we certainly couldn't be forced to do so...as I remember we were offered slightly better benefits to do so.

[Jasper Gilder]

It's a TUPE issue. If the employee is taken over they have the right not to suffer a detriment in their terms and conditions

It's a stupid rule anyway as there are circumstances where someone walks out in a fit of pique where, if they apologise fast enough they have to be taken back on ( I think the case involves Greater Glasgow Health Board)and no-one can predict what the future holds