TUPE transfers - information and consultation
David Malamatenios is a partner and Sandra Martins, Krishna Santra and Colin Makin are senior associates at Colman Coyle Solicitors. They round up the latest rulings.
In DLA Piper's latest case report, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that employment tribunals have no jurisdiction to entertain freestanding claims by transferred employees against the transferee for its failure to provide the transferor with information about the measures that it envisages it will take in relation to the transferring employees.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has provided guidance on how tribunals should assess protective awards where an employer has breached its obligation to inform and consult on a TUPE transfer.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has considered the definition of "affected employees" in the context of a TUPE transfer and the obligation to inform and consult.
This tribunal decision provides a stark reminder to employers of the information on agency workers that they have been required to produce during redundancy and TUPE consultations since amendments to legislation made on 1 October 2011.
Dinu Suntook, Cane Pickersgill and Poppy Fildes are all associates at Addleshaw Goddard. They round up the latest rulings.
This week's case of the week, provided by DLA Piper, covers protective awards under TUPE.
This week's case of the week, provided by DLA Piper, covers protective awards for collective redundancies.
In Todd v Strain and others [2011] IRLR 11 EAT, the EAT held that the duty to give employee representatives information about a forthcoming transfer applies even where there are no measures being proposed that give rise to a duty to consult the representatives. Informing individual employees rather than representatives did not amount to compliance with the information requirements, but should have led the tribunal to award less than the maximum compensation of 13 weeks' pay.
In Unison v Somerset County Council and others EAT/0043/09, the EAT held that the employees "affected by" a TUPE transfer for the purposes of consultation with employee representatives were those who would or might be transferred, those whose job is jeopardised by the proposed transfer, and those with internal job applications pending. The definition did not extend to those who might in the future apply for a vacancy in the part of the undertaking transferred.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to TUPE transfers - information and consultation.