TUPE and how it applies to homeworker status

grimsalve

I was TUPE'd to my current employer a few years ago. The contract with my previous employer stated that I was a home worker and I have been working from home ever since.

It's the absolute worst time for this to happen but my current employer is hoping to save some money by shutting down the local office and relocate everyone to another office further away (and as I understand the situation at the moment, anyone that refuses to travel to the new office will either have to resign or apply for redundancy).

Do the TUPE rules protect my home worker status?

dharm999

Given it’s been a few years, then extremely unlikely TUPE rules would protect you.  Your new employer can change your T&Cs, as long as they follow the correct process

daveyjp

You need to review your contract.

Is your place of work stated as 'home' or similar?

Andy_L

Are you worrying unnecessarly? Why do you think that they want people who are (successfully?) WFH to change to office based as a result of the relocation?
Your first move has to be to find out if "anyone that refuses to travel to the new office will either have to resign or apply for redundancy" applies to WFHers and they won't just keep you WFHing

grimsalve

dharm999 said:

Given it’s been a few years, then extremely unlikely TUPE rules would protect you.  Your new employer can change your T&Cs, as long as they follow the correct process

I understood that TUPE was "indefinite" - ie. ...

What is the period of protection and how long is TUPE valid for? The period of protection afforded by TUPE is indefinite. If the change to a transferring employee's terms and conditions of employment is because of the transfer, it will be prohibited, even if it occurs some years after the transfer took place.

is that no longer the case?

grimsalve

daveyjp said:

You need to review your contract.

Is your place of work stated as 'home' or similar?

Yes, I have a letter from my previous employer confirming that I am a homeworker and my office location is my home address.

dharm999

grimsalve said:

dharm999 said:

Given it’s been a few years, then extremely unlikely TUPE rules would protect you.  Your new employer can change your T&Cs, as long as they follow the correct process

I understood that TUPE was "indefinite" - ie. ...

What is the period of protection and how long is TUPE valid for? The period of protection afforded by TUPE is indefinite. If the change to a transferring employee's terms and conditions of employment is because of the transfer, it will be prohibited, even if it occurs some years after the transfer took place.

is that no longer the case?

The key phrase there is ‘because of the transfer’.  The change they are looking to do is completely unrelated to the transfer, so not protected under TUPE

grimsalve

Andy_L said:

Are you worrying unnecessarly? Why do you think that they want people who are (successfully?) WFH to change to office based as a result of the relocation?
Your first move has to be to find out if "anyone that refuses to travel to the new office will either have to resign or apply for redundancy" applies to WFHers and they won't just keep you WFHing

I think this is also related to the Covid lockdown and my employer wants to get everyone back into the office (whether they were a homework prior to the lockdown or not) - and maybe also trying to kill two birds with one stone by closing an office down.

I was told last week that this does apply to me so I'm already in the consultation process (but only informally at the moment) - I'm just looking for ammunition to use at my next consultation.

grimsalve

dharm999 said:

grimsalve said:

dharm999 said:

Given it’s been a few years, then extremely unlikely TUPE rules would protect you.  Your new employer can change your T&Cs, as long as they follow the correct process

I understood that TUPE was "indefinite" - ie. ...

What is the period of protection and how long is TUPE valid for? The period of protection afforded by TUPE is indefinite. If the change to a transferring employee's terms and conditions of employment is because of the transfer, it will be prohibited, even if it occurs some years after the transfer took place.

is that no longer the case?

The key phrase there is ‘because of the transfer’.  The change they are looking to do is completely unrelated to the transfer, so not protected under TUPE

So I've got no protection?

dharm999

Not under TUPE, no, would be my opinion.

grimsalve

dharm999 said:

Not under TUPE, no, would be my opinion.

I was just looking on the lawsuperstore website just now and it states...

Under TUPE, if your old employer has guaranteed certain provisions, such as letting you work from home, then these are transferred to the new employer. It’s about making the process as seamless and fair as possible for all employees.

...but possibly this is just for the transfer too.

So it looks like they are going to make me redundant. This winter is going to be a struggle