TUPE or not TUPE?? 29 January 2013 at 3:45PM in Redundancy & redundancy planning 12 replies 2.4K views

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knows the rights I have under TUPE as the company I work for has lost its business and new providers will be taking over in a couple of months.

My contract is split between 2 sectors of the business with set hours allocated to both on a roughly 60/40 split. Both of those sectors will now be taken over by different providers.

Will I be eligable for TUPE to both companies or will I have to forego some of my hours (I am assuming I will NOT get redundancy for those lost hours even though both of my posts will be redundant with my current employer).

Panicing a bit as I am the main bread winner and we are being given no information at work at the moment and my situation is not as straight forward as my colleagues (they do not have split contracts).

Many thanks

321

Linton

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog wrote: »

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knows the rights I have under TUPE as the company I work for has lost its business and new providers will be taking over in a couple of months.

My contract is split between 2 sectors of the business with set hours allocated to both on a roughly 60/40 split. Both of those sectors will now be taken over by different providers.

Will I be eligable for TUPE to both companies or will I have to forego some of my hours (I am assuming I will NOT get redundancy for those lost hours even though both of my posts will be redundant with my current employer).

Panicing a bit as I am the main bread winner and we are being given no information at work at the moment and my situation is not as straight forward as my colleagues (they do not have split contracts).

Many thanks

321

I would have thought it more likely that the roles would be reorganised so that you only worked for one company.

Having worked for an outsourcing company, what we did when acquiring new staff was to integrate them into the wider company so they could end up working on quite different contracts if the skills fitted. It gave a good opportunity for career progression.

zzzLazyDaisy

Can I just clarify a couple of points as it may make a difference.

When you say the company you work for has 'lost it's business', do you mean that they have lost a contract to provide a service, and the contract has now gone to two different service providers?

An example of this might be a service provider providing cleaning services at two different offices owned by the same client, and you having a contract to work at one office 60% of the time, and the other office 40% of the time. But the contract has now been split between two service providers, one for each office.

Thanks

Dx

EDIT also how many employees are affected by this transfer in each department?

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Can I just clarify a couple of points as it may make a difference.

When you say the company you work for has 'lost it's business', do you mean that they have lost a contract to provide a service, and the contract has now gone to two different service providers? Yes this is exactly what has happened.

An example of this might be a service provider providing cleaning services at two different offices owned by the same client, and you having a contract to work at one office 60% of the time, and the other office 40% of the time. But the contract has now been split between two service providers, one for each office. Not a cleaning company but otherwise spot on, my hours are split between 2 seperate contracts, both currently covered by one company but in future each contract will be covered by a seperate company.

Thanks

Dx

EDIT also how many employees are affected by this transfer in each department?

We are a national company with small staffing levels at multiple offices. In my area only approx 10/12 staff are affected, I am the only one with split hours. However TUPE has been agreed between all the companies tendering for the business and we are also covered by company policy.

zzzLazyDaisy

Okay, thanks for that information, it is really helpful.

Just one thing - be grateful this has happened now, if it was going to happen, as the Govt is in consultation about amendments to TUPE, and one of the proposals is to remove change of service providers from the ambit of TUPE altogether. I think there is a good possibility of this going through as it has come about through case law and is a departure from the EU directive. So at least you do have some protection.

Okay the test is which part of the organisation are you 'wholly or mainly' employed to work in? That's the part that you work 60% of your time in, so your legal right is to be TUPE'd to that company. Just to be clear - you wouldn't be TUPE'd as a part-timer on 60%, but as a full-time employee who works most of his time in that part of the business. And it may be worth researching that company, they may be good employers with good prospects, and enough work to fill your hours.

That's the legal position, but there is often more than one way to skin a cat. If you would prefer to keep one foot in each camp, for example, working part-time for each employer (which to be fair is never an easy task to fulfill) then there may be ways to approach this possibility, which while not a legal right, might be amenable to both new employers.

So, next question - is there a union involved in this process? If so speak to them, it may be possible to negotiate a deal that is better for you. If not speak to HR and see what their views are on this.

BUT please be careful. Your legal right is to go to employer A, with all your terms and conditions intact under TUPE (excluding some pension rights). If you split yourself between employers A and B, employer B is not under any legal obligation to give you TUPE protection, in which case, get continuity and the other TUPE equivalents written into the agreement, otherwise you could lose your job the day after the transfer (or any time within the next two years) with no comeback whatsoever.

hope this helps

D

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog

Hi LazyDaisy,

Thank you so much for that information. It has made me feel more secure.

As the main bread winner it would be very difficult for me if I lost some hours but from what you have said that shouldn't be the case, I should be TUPEd to the employer taking over the 60% part of my hours for the full 100% of my contracted hours. Phew!!

The saddest part about all of this is that we are a very tight team that work well together, all bringing different qualities to the table and we are going to be split between 2 companies now.

Many thanks

321 xx

zzzLazyDaisy

You are welcome - and good luck in your new role.

Dx

KeepFighting_2

Have been looking for somewhere that gives advice on TUPE.
I work for a company that is moving my team to a third party we know that we are going and that the transfer comes under the TUPE Leigslation but what we are trying to establish from our HR department with no luck is the following.
1) We are paid cash in lieu of benefits which is not classified as pensioniable salary. You can choose to take certain benefits or just keep the cash. Our Employee handbook states that his is discretionary and can be withdrawn. Is this something that my new employer will have to keep paying me.
2) We have shares that have been given to us by our company that do not vest for another two years. Who decides what happens to them. Also people have shares in savings plans obviously we will not be working for this company so again not sure what the decision process is.
Any help advice gratefully accepted.

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog

Just wanted to say thanks again LazyDaisy.

Finally had a meeting with Area Manager and HR this week and felt really confident that I knew what the situation was and was just there to hear them confirm it really.

It has saved me a lot of stress and anxiety over these last weeks and your spot on advice has been much appreciated

321 xxx

zzzLazyDaisy

You are very welcome, glad to hear things are working out for you.

Dx

StressedOutMummy

I can offer no advice on your situation OP and I apoligise for hi-jacking but I think LazyDaisy is an absolute star! Lazy, you give your time and expert opinion time after time and I'm sure everyone is profoundly grateful for it. I hope if I am in a situation such as the OP and all the others you have helped , I could call on you and I would feel very fortunate if you responded.