TUPE and sickness policy?

mt50

hi at work we have been tuped to a different company in the last couple of months, now back in april i had a few days off due to family troubles so i had a disciplinary which had no outcome other than to follow the company guidelines around sickness so 5days off in 12months which is fine but now the new company have changed this and its 4days off in 12months so as i see it my disciplinary has changed they say that they can review and change them if they want and asked me to sign it which i refused until i made sure they can, so my question is does the sickness policy(ie number of days off in a year before disciplinary) stay the same under the tupe or is that not covered?

i have googled but couldn't find the answer only found the answer to sick pay.

any info would be great thanks

polkadot

Didn't want to read and run-Im sure someone will be along to give you a "legal answer" soon. I just wanted to say that my husband has recently changed employer under TUPE law, and the answers I got here in preparation were that the contract may not be changed to leave you "worse off" than under your previous employer. Things can change (in DH's case it was a salary increase) for the better.So no, they cannot legally take away from your original contract.

SarEl

Unfortunately it isn't that easy - it never is with TUPE. The broad terms and conditions are protected (for a time - not for ever), but it is certainly possible to change things for the worse in relatively quick time. This is a policy, and whilst it forms part of the terms and conditions, if the employers existing policy already states 4 days (which is a horrendously mean policy - but not unlawful) then yes, there are grounds to make the change and it would not be considered so major as to undermine the premise of TUPE. It is always difficult to be definitive about TUPE, and without specifc details of the agreement and the changes (the paperwork) absolutely impossible, but I don't think that in law, on the face of it, the employer would have much to worry about in terms of making this change. If you have a union, they would be the people to speak to.