New company taking on my works contract where do I stand?

piperm87

Hi all,

As per the title really, I work for a maintenance company who contract to a well known computer company, We recently found out that our company as lost the contract to another company who are taking over in April next year. I've looked online and tried to see where I stand but can't find anything reassuring and im hoping you guys and girls can potentially put my mind to ease.

What are my rights with regards to Tupee'ing over to the new company when it takes over? Will It be an option or do they have to take us all on? and if so how long would it be before they can make changes to our contract or even make us redundant?  It couldn't of come at a worse time with everything that's going on but im hoping there will be light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks

Matt

steampowered

If you were part of an organised grouping of employees, which has as its principal purpose the carrying out of activities on behalf of the client, and you were primarily assigned to that grouping - then, legally, you will TUPE over to the new service provider.

Enforcing that in practice can sometimes be difficult. It is fair to ask your employer whether they think you will be TUPEing or not.

piperm87

steampowered said:

If you were part of an organised grouping of employees, which has as its principal purpose the carrying out of activities on behalf of the client, and you were primarily assigned to that grouping - then, legally, you will TUPE over to the new service provider.

Enforcing that in practice can sometimes be difficult. It is fair to ask your employer whether they think you will be TUPEing or not.

Yes there are a number of us on the account who provide maintenance and building management for the customer. We haven't heard anything yet as its still In the early stages after been announced. I'm keeping everything crossed that they keep us on mind.

One of the sites we look after is a critical data centre site, hopefully the customer will request that the same personnel are kept on due to knowing the site and its systems.

AskAsk

i am trying to remember as my memory is so bad, but i have worked for employers where ownership has changed quite often.  normally you don't see any changes in practice, except new ethics often come in from the new owner.  it has never been positive from my experience, but i wouldn't say it was massively negative.

one company did make redundancies after the transfer of ownership.  it took them a year to look through the business and make decisions on disposing of parts of the business that they are not interested in.  they sold the part of the business to another company, and that company made us redundant pretty much immediately as they only bought the business for the client list and not the actual business itself as they were a competitor.

General_Grant

AskAsk said:

i am trying to remember as my memory is so bad, but i have worked for employers where ownership has changed quite often.  normally you don't see any changes in practice, except new ethics often come in from the new owner.  it has never been positive from my experience, but i wouldn't say it was massively negative.

one company did make redundancies after the transfer of ownership.  it took them a year to look through the business and make decisions on disposing of parts of the business that they are not interested in.  they sold the part of the business to another company, and that company made us redundant pretty much immediately as they only bought the business for the client list and not the actual business itself as they were a competitor.

This thread isn't about transfer of ownership of a company: it is about a contract for work carried out by a group of people with one employer being moved to be undertaken by a different organisation (therefore potential employer).

AskAsk

General_Grant said:

AskAsk said:

i am trying to remember as my memory is so bad, but i have worked for employers where ownership has changed quite often.  normally you don't see any changes in practice, except new ethics often come in from the new owner.  it has never been positive from my experience, but i wouldn't say it was massively negative.

one company did make redundancies after the transfer of ownership.  it took them a year to look through the business and make decisions on disposing of parts of the business that they are not interested in.  they sold the part of the business to another company, and that company made us redundant pretty much immediately as they only bought the business for the client list and not the actual business itself as they were a competitor.

This thread isn't about transfer of ownership of a company: it is about a contract for work carried out by a group of people with one employer being moved to be undertaken by a different organisation (therefore potential employer).

but we were TUPE as well though, unless i have not remembered correctly.

Manxman_in_exile

If your employer has simply been sold and bought, that isn't TUPE.

AskAsk

Manxman_in_exile said:

If your employer has simply been sold and bought, that isn't TUPE.

this link says it is
https://www.gov.uk/transfers-takeovers

General_Grant

AskAsk said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

If your employer has simply been sold and bought, that isn't TUPE.

this link says it is
https://www.gov.uk/transfers-takeovers

Read it again.  I think you are referring to Business Transfers ("This is where a business or part of a business moves from one employer to another. This can include mergers where 2 companies close and combine to form a new one".)

and "The identity of the employer must change, to be protected under TUPE during a business transfer."

If the employing company has been sold, there will be new owners of the company but the company is still the same entity.

Manxman_in_exile

AskAsk said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

If your employer has simply been sold and bought, that isn't TUPE.

this link says it is
https://www.gov.uk/transfers-takeovers

Simply selling and buying a company isn't TUPE because if that is all that has happened the employer (the company) hasn't changed even though ownership has.  Has the legal identity of the employer changed?  If it hasn't, no TUPE.

Savvy_Sue

Are you in a union? Could well be worth joining ... and encouraging your colleagues to do so too.