Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Fire and rehireEmployment lawLatest NewsDismissalRetail

Union gets permission to take Tesco fire and rehire case to Supreme Court

by Ashleigh Webber 22 Dec 2022
by Ashleigh Webber 22 Dec 2022 Julius Kielaitis / Shutterstock
Julius Kielaitis / Shutterstock

The Supreme Court has granted a shop workers’ union permission to proceed with its ‘fire and rehire’ case against Tesco.

The Union of Shop Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) can now take its legal challenge against the supermarket’s plans to dismiss employees and rehire them on less favourable contracts to the highest court in the UK, despite the Court of Appeal ruling that Tesco could proceed with the plans earlier this year.

The case centres around employees at Tesco’s Daventry and Litchfield distribution centres, who were set to have their contracts of employment terminated by the company, only to be re-engaged on contracts that did not include a historical “retained pay” benefit.

In February the High Court ruled in the workers’ favour and stated that the benefit was “guaranteed for life”.

Fire and rehire

P&O Ferries: Pressure on MPs to back ‘fire and rehire’ ban

Acas launches guidance to dissuade fire and rehire misuse

Court of Appeal overturns Tesco ‘fire and rehire’ ruling

However an appeal by Tesco saw the Court of Appeal overturn this in July. It found that the fact the collective agreements contained references about retained pay being “permanent” only meant it was guaranteed for the life of a particular contract of employment, and that the language used did not suggest it would last beyond that.

An injunction preventing Tesco from issuing the notices of termination was removed by the Court of Appeal.

Upon receiving permission to take its appeal to the Supreme Court, Usdaw national office Joanne McGuinness said: “It has always been clear to us what we agreed with Tesco in respect of our members in receipt of retained pay. That is that they would have a right to this payment for as long as they remained employed by Tesco in their current role. The agreement was reached at a time when the organisation needed these individuals to remain in post as it could not have been operationally effective if they had chosen to leave.

“We were very disappointed by the outcome at the Court of Appeal but we made clear it would not end there without some recompense for our members and we would exhaust every avenue to protect our members’ terms and conditions of employment. The decision to grant permission is a further step doing everything we can to continue this fight.”

Neil Todd, a trade union specialist at Thompsons Solicitors, which is representing Usdaw, said: “Tesco faces a fight as Usdaw is resolute that the workers concerned were given clear commitments by Tesco that retained pay was to be a permanent feature of their income.”

A spokesperson for Tesco said: “A very small number of colleagues in our UK distribution network receive a supplement to their pay, which was offered a number of years ago as an incentive to retain colleagues. The vast majority of our distribution colleagues today do not receive this top-up, and so we took the decision to phase it out. We will continue to work constructively with the small number of colleagues affected to agree a way forward.”

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

A date for the hearing is yet to be set.

HR roles in retail and wholesale on Personnel Today


Browse more HR roles in retail and wholesale

Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is a former editor of OHW+ and former HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support.

previous post
Demand for guidance on hybrid and overseas working tax implications
next post
UK happiness to fall in 2023 as wage levels drop

You may also like

Zero-hours workers’ rights to be extended from beyond...

8 May 2025

Bank holidays: six things employers need to know

2 May 2025

Employment Rights Bill must be tightened to protect...

1 May 2025

Court of Appeal hears Ryanair pilot’s worker status...

1 Apr 2025

Working when the clocks go forward: how should...

30 Mar 2025

Employment Rights Bill: Agency workers and zero-hours contracts...

5 Mar 2025

What lies ahead for IR35 and worker status?

25 Feb 2025

Zero-hours workers ‘stuck’ in long-term arrangements

3 Feb 2025

Storm Éowyn: Five common employer queries about severe...

24 Jan 2025

Recruiting seasonal workers: what does the future hold?

20 Jan 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+