TUPE question

RavingMad

A few years ago, our dept was TUPE'd over to a new firm. All the T+C's were sorted, one of which was enhanced redundancy (stat. plus 1wk for every year)


I'm hearing on the grapevine that there's a round of redundancies coming and a few people are saying they're going to opt for it this time as there's no telling if they'll change the redundancy packages next time.


My question is - can they change something we came over with? People are telling me that the enhanced redundancy isn't our contract but it was definitely a company policy we came over with


Thanks

sangie595

They can change everything you came over with, contract or policy. It isn't hard to do, especially not a couple of years after the TUPE. TUPE is reckoned to have far more power than it does. Your terms and conditions are protected at the point of transfer - after that, everything is fair game for the employer, and they only need a good reason to change things, a good reason being easy to come up with. For example, they can no longer afford to pay enhanced redundancy, so they won't be paying it. If forced to pay it then they will make more people redundant and/or it could threaten the existence of the company. It's that simple - and a tribunal would side with the employer almost every time.