Altering staff contracts could lead to tribunal

Employers choosing to “nibble” around the edges of their new workforce’s pay and conditions after a TUPE transfer will lose at employment tribunals, legal experts have warned.

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Simon Jeffreys, partner at law firm CMS Cameron McKenna, said new TUPE rules on changing employment terms, which came into force in April, meant employers taking over staff could no longer simply harmonise pay and conditions across the enlarged workforce, unless there was an economic, technical or organisational reason to do so.

Jeffreys told delegates at the IRS conference: “Most employers hoped TUPE would give them more flexibility. If employers nibble around the edge you have a problem. If you take the whole thing and shake it by the neck, employees have no protection under TUPE.”