What is a TUPE transfer?
Is there a minimum number of employees that must be affected before a transfer under TUPE can take place?
What constitutes a transfer of an undertaking under the TUPE Regulations 2006?
What is a service provision change under the TUPE Regulations 2006?
In a TUPE situation which employer is the "transferee" and which the "transferor"?
Where only a few employees will transfer to a new employer under TUPE, does the obligation to inform and consult still apply?
Where employees are dismissed as a result of a TUPE transfer, will the dismissals be unfair?
What is an "economic, technical or organisational reason" for dismissal under the TUPE Regulations 2006?
In a TUPE situation is the transferor required to obtain its employees' consent before passing on information about them to the transferee?
No, although the transferor must consider the implications of
the Data Protection Act 1998 when disclosing information in the context of a
TUPE transfer.
The Employment practices data protection code (PDF format, 449K) (on the ICO website) sets out a number
of good practice recommendations to enable employers to comply with the
requirements of the Act. These provide, amongst other things, that wherever
practicable transferors should ensure that information handed over to another
organisation in connection with a prospective acquisition, merger or business
reorganisation is anonymised, and that workers are advised that their
employment records are to be disclosed to another organisation before an acquisition
or merger takes place. Furthermore, if the acquisition or merger goes ahead the
employer should ensure that workers are aware of the extent to which their
records are to be transferred to the new employer.
The Supplementary Guidance that accompanies the Code provides
that, where an employer is under a legal obligation to disclose workers'
records to a third party, it is relieved of the obligation to inform workers of
that disclosure where to do so would breach commercial confidentiality, for
example by leaking the fact of the transfer or the identity of the transferee.
Under the Transfer of Undertakings
(Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/246), a transferor is under a legal
obligation to disclose certain information about the transferring employees to
the transferee prior to completion of the transfer. It will, therefore, be
covered by the legal obligation exemption in respect of the disclosure of this
information. To the extent that the transferor provides
information over and above this, it should still be able to rely on one
of the other conditions in sch.2 to the Data Protection Act 1998 in order to
ensure that it processes data fairly and lawfully. The most relevant one in the
context of a TUPE transfer is likely to be the "legitimate interests" condition,
ie where the processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests
pursued by the data controller (in this case the transferor) or by the third
party to whom the data is disclosed (the transferee). It is, however, advisable
for the transferor to obtain formal assurances from the prospective transferee
with regard to use and safekeeping of the information and its return if the
transfer does not proceed.
XpertHR provides answers to more than 1,000 FAQs. But that's not all...
Request a demo today to find out how XpertHR can benefit your organisation
In a TUPE situation, is the transferor obliged to give the transferee the personnel files of transferred employees?
What is "employee liability information" under the TUPE Regulations 2006?
Is an employer obliged to consult with employee representatives on a TUPE transfer?
Who has to be informed and consulted on a TUPE transfer?
What is the purpose of any consultations that take place on a TUPE transfer?
The duty to consult in a TUPE situation arises where an employer envisages taking measures in relation to affected employees, but what sort of measures would this cover?
What is the time period over which the employer must consult on a TUPE transfer?
What is the time frame for electing employee representatives for informing and consulting on a TUPE transfer?
How many employee representatives are necessary for informing and consulting on a TUPE transfer?
Can an employer place restrictions on who can stand as a candidate in elections for informing and consulting on a TUPE transfer?
What duties do employee representatives elected for informing and consulting on a TUPE transfer have?