Company has been bought out

lesleystrawson

Hi all

I discovered on Tuesday that the company I work for has sold my section to another company (we do gas/oil training - the main branch of the company sells tanks). They will be taking over as of the 6th July.

I am aware of the legalities of my employment contract being 'passed on' as it were to the new employer. They, along with my soon-to-be ex manager are coming down tomorrow to see us.

I have only been working for the company for 16 months, so am also aware of my rights with redundancy. I just wondered whether there are any questions that it might be prudent to ask if given the opportunity?

Thanks in advance

Lesley

McKneff

'Are our jobs safe' would be a good start!!!

LittleVoice

You don't really have a new employer. If the company itself has been bought by another then your employer is still your original company. But then you knew that.

BlueIsTheColour

Maybe have a look through here

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/BusinessTransfersandtakeovers/index.htm

If your company has contracted out your "bit" to another company, as a service provision provider change, TUPE should apply

getmore4less

LittleVoice wrote: »

You don't really have a new employer. If the company itself has been bought by another then your employer is still your original company. But then you knew that.

That is not what the OP said,

the company I work for has sold my section to another company

I would be asking about the new company and what new opportinities it may offer, also trying to find out if there are reog/redundancies on the agenda.

LittleVoice

Yes, looks like TUPE situation (as described within the main body of the first post) - but I see the heading is "Company has been bought out" - not the company has sold part of its operation! So I guess I was answering on the basis of the heading, not the situation described within the rest of the post itself.

londondulwich

There is a requirement for the previous owner and the prospective owner to consult about the hand over. If you are unionised your union rep should handle this. If not you may ask the company for time to elect a representative from your group to negotiate on your behalf.

What is unclear from your post is when the transfer took place. There is no duty to consult after the transfer. Your post says that the business has already changed hands, but that the new employer will only take up the reigns in July.

If the transfer has already occurred then the company has acted unlawfully. It might be worth clarifying whether or not the transfer has already occurred.

Information you are required to be given include:
why it has happened (making a loss),
what it is going mean in terms of pay, travel and terms of employment (i.e. bonus culture and targets, new place of work/ working from home and increased holiday/ paid maternity leave,or redundancies).
Changes in duties, or the fact that nothing will change.

Once you have this information you can consider it and respond in your own time.

If you don't get these answers then ask for them.

getmore4less

londondulwich wrote: »

There is a requirement for the previous owner and the prospective owner to consult about the hand over. If you are unionised your union rep should handle this. If not you may ask the company for time to elect a representative from your group to negotiate on your behalf.

What is unclear from your post is when the transfer took place. There is no duty to consult after the transfer. Your post says that the business has already changed hands, but that the new employer will only take up the reigns in July.

If the transfer has already occurred then the company has acted unlawfully. It might be worth clarifying whether or not the transfer has already occurred.

Information you are required to be given include:
why it has happened (making a loss),
what it is going mean in terms of pay, travel and terms of employment (i.e. bonus culture and targets, new place of work/ working from home and increased holiday/ paid maternity leave,or redundancies).
Changes in duties, or the fact that nothing will change.

Once you have this information you can consider it and respond in your own time.

If you don't get these answers then ask for them.

INteresting do you have a link for this?

In my experience the process is much simpler.

The old employer expalins that you have been transfered(as part of the business unit being sold) nothing will change same T&C's, it's a TUPE transfer.

The new employer then does a review some time later (days,weeks,months) and restructures.

londondulwich

This is a link to the legislation (TUPE 2006): http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/20060246.htm

The consultation process is covered by regulation 13, titled "Duty to consult and inform employees"(Written in bold).

The election of a representative is under regulation 14, called "Election of employee representatives".

No duty to consult after the transfer was ruled on by the Employment Appeal Tribunal in 2008. This is a link to the case:

http://www.employmentappeals.gov.uk/Public/Upload/EATS.0007_080007_08UCATTvGlasgow...formatted.doc

If you scroll down to the part that says "summary", it is there in last bit.