Protected rights. Employer sold company.

njkmr

Hi Guys
A question on protected rights that I believe us employees were given when a large corporation sold our company . This happened probably 20 years ago when we were owned by a major company and they sold us to another company but we were told our redundancy, sick leave period etc would remain the same. We have changed hands several times since then, also now owned by another large company.
I remember about 10 years ago speaking with a HR manager who was also a friend, who have me a copy of my contract and said keep that safe it's got your protected rights.
It has fairly generous redundancy terms 6 months pay I think and also sick leave, 6 months full pay compared to our company now which only offers 4 months sick pay.
I am currently off work due to ill health and have been told my sick pay is 4 months, but I don't want to challenge this if it has expired. Unfortunately I don't think there are any HR staff still in the business that were there when the protected rights were issued so I would not know how to explain it or discuss it with them.
Can anyone offer advice on whether the rights would still exist so long after the sale and also seen as though we have been sold several times since.?
Many thanks
Regards
Rob.

Undervalued

njkmr said:

Hi Guys
A question on protected rights that I believe us employees were given when a large corporation sold our company . This happened probably 20 years ago when we were owned by a major company and they sold us to another company but we were told our redundancy, sick leave period etc would remain the same. We have changed hands several times since then, also now owned by another large company.
I remember about 10 years ago speaking with a HR manager who was also a friend, who have me a copy of my contract and said keep that safe it's got your protected rights.
It has fairly generous redundancy terms 6 months pay I think and also sick leave, 6 months full pay compared to our company now which only offers 4 months sick pay.
I am currently off work due to ill health and have been told my sick pay is 4 months, but I don't want to challenge this if it has expired. Unfortunately I don't think there are any HR staff still in the business that were there when the protected rights were issued so I would not know how to explain it or discuss it with them.
Can anyone offer advice on whether the rights would still exist so long after the sale and also seen as though we have been sold several times since.?
Many thanks
Regards
Rob.

Realistically, probably not I'm afraid. Even if the company hadn't changed hands employment terms aren't set in stone and can be changed fairly easily.

Keep_pedalling

Are you in a union?

njkmr

Yeh thought it may be a bit futile to be honest so won't pursue.

No not in a Union.

thanks guys.
Regards
Rob.

Hoenir

Have you asked to see what records HR holds on file for you? After many TUPE's is it possible that you've overlooked changes. 

robatwork

In your position I'd ask for a copy of your current contract

Marcon

robatwork said:

In your position I'd ask for a copy of your current contract

Changes don't have to be embedded in individual contracts. They could have been covered in staff handbooks etc - but certainly worth asking in case it throws up an interesting answer.

njkmr

Hi
Yep I have my current contract and it says 4 months full sick pay, it's just I thought it was explained that us old timers who were there during the original sale years ago would have our terms protected no matter what new contracts were given later. 
To be honest it's not worth stressing over at the moment , but I just thought it's worth asking in case someone on here had been through something similar.
Regards.

robatwork

Normally terms are indeed preserved unless you've accepted new terms. Is the new contract one that you have signed?

njkmr

Yeh had several different jobs within the company since then with a new contract each time.
Regards
Rob.

robatwork

In which case I think 4 is the magic number