HR Articles

We’re nearing October and it’s still unclear what the UK’s withdrawal agreement with the EU will look like or if one will exist at all! It is also unclear what impact Brexit will have on employment law and there hasn’t really been any development in this area since The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 was passed in June last year.

In Hare Wines v Kaur, the Claimant had a strained working relationship with a colleague who, as it happened, was going to be a director in the transferee’s business.

In this recent case, the management of a school in Spain was sub-contracted out by the local authority. In the midst of a dispute the contractor dismissed all of the school’s staff on 27 March 2013.

For there to be a business transfer under TUPE there must be an ‘economic entity’ that retains its identity post-transfer.

In Anglo Beef Processors v Longland and Meat & Livestock Commercial Services, Mr Longland had been employed as a carcass service officer for Meat & Livestock, manually classifying carcasses in an abattoir.

On a share sale, it is easy to presume that TUPE will not apply as the employer remains the same and it is just the ownership that changes. In the recent case of ICAP Management Services Limited v Berry & BGC, the High Court looked at the circumstances in which a transfer could arise.

Recently it has been hard to escape reports about employment status and the ‘gig economy’ with companies like Uber, Deliveroo and Addison Lee attracting much attention.

In the recent Employment Tribunal case of Holden v Spice Valley Restaurants Ltd and others the employer, a restaurant, went into administration

The Labour Manifesto has had some newspapers proclaiming a return to the 1970s but for TUPE it could be a return to a more recent past.

Despite reassurances that existing employment law rights will be protected following Brexit, there is much scepticism as to whether government guarantees will last, especially since a “Hard Brexit” Britain will not need to keep certain rights to maintain access to the single market.