TUPE - service days / continual service reward
Discussion
I've worked for coming up to 10 years continually on a regional civil engineering contract. Over this time we have TUPE'd between several big construction companies. I started in November 2013 working for Company A, transferred to Company B (who were quickly purchased and absorbed by Company C) a couple of years later when they won the contract bid, and now I am back at Company A (under a slightly different brand / division) as they currently have the contract.
When I first started, one of the terms that Company A had was for 'service days' - that being permanent additional annual leave after having worked continuously for 10 years in their specific case.
Company B/C had a similar system, but it was every 5 years (with the first additional day being given after an initial 10 years - confusing I know).
Having recently remembered by '10 year anniversary' approaching, I contacted our HR to confirm the service days still stood - last year I received an automated email congratulating me on 9 years service, so although I've been between companies, they still have record of my uninterrupted employment.
HR have just responded to my query explaining that they know operate a 'rewards' system, where at 10 years we receive a £100 voucher, and at 25 years a £250 voucher (which given inflation will probably be the same as a £100 voucher today, but anyway....).
My query is - are my previous terms for this covered under TUPE? We've changed terms and employees so many times that it's hard to know what still stands at this point, and AFAIK we don't currently have formal contracts that we can view...
It's not the end of the world, but I feel a bit short-changed having expected (and hoped for) a permanent additional day's leave at my 10 year point, to now receiving a one-off 100 quid voucher (which will presumably have to be redeemed at a limited range of sponsored retailers)
When I first started, one of the terms that Company A had was for 'service days' - that being permanent additional annual leave after having worked continuously for 10 years in their specific case.
Company B/C had a similar system, but it was every 5 years (with the first additional day being given after an initial 10 years - confusing I know).
Having recently remembered by '10 year anniversary' approaching, I contacted our HR to confirm the service days still stood - last year I received an automated email congratulating me on 9 years service, so although I've been between companies, they still have record of my uninterrupted employment.
HR have just responded to my query explaining that they know operate a 'rewards' system, where at 10 years we receive a £100 voucher, and at 25 years a £250 voucher (which given inflation will probably be the same as a £100 voucher today, but anyway....).
My query is - are my previous terms for this covered under TUPE? We've changed terms and employees so many times that it's hard to know what still stands at this point, and AFAIK we don't currently have formal contracts that we can view...
It's not the end of the world, but I feel a bit short-changed having expected (and hoped for) a permanent additional day's leave at my 10 year point, to now receiving a one-off 100 quid voucher (which will presumably have to be redeemed at a limited range of sponsored retailers)
It depends if that specific benefit and how it worked was explicitly written in your original contract and it has been grandfathered through all the TUPEs. If yes, the you should still get the benefit as per the terms of your original contract. Did you tell HR you had grandfathered terms when you contacted them? It may be they simply didn’t know you were an acquired employee and thought you had standard terms/contract and not grandfathered terms.
Your employer can choose to change your terms to harmonise grandfathered terms so that everyone gets the same terms/benefits, but that has to be done through consultation and it sounds like that hasn’t been the case here.
Your employer can choose to change your terms to harmonise grandfathered terms so that everyone gets the same terms/benefits, but that has to be done through consultation and it sounds like that hasn’t been the case here.
I don't think it was a specific contractual term to be honest, rather something that existed when I joined and was replicated by the other company(ies) I then TUPE'd to.
I can understand the point of them perhaps not knowing, as the 'version' of the company we now work for is very different to the original one due to contract changes and rebrands etc I understand that they'll review and change their benefits over time.
I have gone back to HR with an explanation of my TUPE history and the benefit as it stood when I first started.
I accept there may be no real obligation to honour past benefits like this, but it does feel a bit unfair to have terms that relate to benefits being gained over long periods of time (in this case a decade), to then change / remove those benefits at some point, effectively ending any accrued years people may have (and to be fair, an one-time £100 voucher doesn't fairly replace a permanent additional annual leave day IMO)
I can understand the point of them perhaps not knowing, as the 'version' of the company we now work for is very different to the original one due to contract changes and rebrands etc I understand that they'll review and change their benefits over time.
I have gone back to HR with an explanation of my TUPE history and the benefit as it stood when I first started.
I accept there may be no real obligation to honour past benefits like this, but it does feel a bit unfair to have terms that relate to benefits being gained over long periods of time (in this case a decade), to then change / remove those benefits at some point, effectively ending any accrued years people may have (and to be fair, an one-time £100 voucher doesn't fairly replace a permanent additional annual leave day IMO)
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