John, take a look at: http://www.out-law.com/page-448 Regards, Bob What does TUPE mean legally? Employees who are employed in the undertaking which is being transferred have their employment transferred to the new employer. Employees can refuse to transfer (or "opt-out"), but depending on the circumstances of the case, they can lose valuable legal rights if they do. TUPE states that "all the transferor's rights, powers, duties and liabilities under or in connection with the transferring employees' contracts of employment are transferred to the transferee". This all-embracing concept encompasses rights under the contract of employment, statutory rights and continuity of employment and includes employees' rights to bring a claim against their employer for unfair dismissal, redundancy or discrimination, unpaid wages, bonuses or holidays and personal injury claims etc. Employees therefore have the legal right to transfer to the new employer on their existing terms and conditions of employment and with all their existing employment rights and liabilities intact (although there are special provisions dealing with old age pensions under occupational pension schemes). Effectively, the new employer steps into the shoes of the old employer and it is as though the employee's contract of employment was always made with the new employer. For this reason it is essential that employers know all about the employees they might inherit if they are planning to take over a contract or buy a business and that they make sure that the contract protects them from any employment liabilities which arose before they became the employer. This is helped by the fact that the old employer is now required to provide to the new employer written details of all employee rights and liabilities that will transfer (see below). From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of nice to know you Sent: 27 January 2008 00:08 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] TUPE Hello Does anyone have any experience of TUPE? In particular, does the new employer have to provide, as a minimum the same terms and conditions as provided by the original employer? Exclude pensions because that is ok..it's the rest that concerns me. John _____ Messenger on the move. Text MSN to 63463 now! <http://mobile.uk.msn.com/pc/messenger.aspx%20> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remove this footer before replying. OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html FORTHCOMING CONFERENCES AND EDUCATIONAL EVENTS: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH JOBS http://OHJobs.drmaze.net OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH NURSING EDUCATION http://www.aohne.org.uk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remove this footer before replying. OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html FORTHCOMING CONFERENCES AND EDUCATIONAL EVENTS: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH JOBS http://OHJobs.drmaze.net OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH NURSING EDUCATION http://www.aohne.org.uk