Unfair dismissal compensation: Payment by transferee deducted from unfair dismissal award against transferor

Key points

• In Steele v Boston Borough Council 28.10.02 EAT 1083/01, the EAT holds that in assessing compensation for a complainant who successfully claimed unfair dismissal against his employer, it was just and equitable under the statutory provisions to deduct from his award a payment which he had already received under the terms of an agreement made, not with the employer, but with the transferee of the employer's business.
• The payment under the agreement formed part of a continuous transaction of events comprised of: the employer's transfer of its business to a separate company under the TUPE Regulations; the employee and the transferee entering into an agreement for the payment in an attempt to avoid liability under reg.