Divestment and TUPE
Discussion
So having worked for the same large company for around 20 years it was recently announced that the part of the company I currently work in is being sold.
We are quite worried as the new owners, while a large company themselves, are already trying to pull us across with worse benefits. Some examples: At 15 years you get an extra weeks holiday every year, at the new company you get 500 quid. Our very lucrative SAYE scheme is not being replaced or bought out. 4 x salary pay out to next of kin if death in service, new company, nothing. These are just a few examples, there are many more.
I would be interested to hear from people who have gone through similar situations to hear how things turned out. To be honest, redundancy wouldn't be the worst thing here. I am due 1 month to every year served which I think has to be honoured when they take over our contracts.
We are quite worried as the new owners, while a large company themselves, are already trying to pull us across with worse benefits. Some examples: At 15 years you get an extra weeks holiday every year, at the new company you get 500 quid. Our very lucrative SAYE scheme is not being replaced or bought out. 4 x salary pay out to next of kin if death in service, new company, nothing. These are just a few examples, there are many more.
I would be interested to hear from people who have gone through similar situations to hear how things turned out. To be honest, redundancy wouldn't be the worst thing here. I am due 1 month to every year served which I think has to be honoured when they take over our contracts.
MrSmith901 said:
So having worked for the same large company for around 20 years it was recently announced that the part of the company I currently work in is being sold.
We are quite worried as the new owners, while a large company themselves, are already trying to pull us across with worse benefits. Some examples: At 15 years you get an extra weeks holiday every year, at the new company you get 500 quid. Our very lucrative SAYE scheme is not being replaced or bought out. 4 x salary pay out to next of kin if death in service, new company, nothing. These are just a few examples, there are many more.
I would be interested to hear from people who have gone through similar situations to hear how things turned out. To be honest, redundancy wouldn't be the worst thing here. I am due 1 month to every year served which I think has to be honoured when they take over our contracts.
Are any of those examples you listed written in your contract of employment? TUPE safe-guards contractual terms that exceed those typically offered by the new employer, meaning you get to keep them for a period at least (an employer may consult with you further down the line to change this). But this is for contractual terms only; non-contractual benefits aren't subject to the same protection. A decent buyer would usually make efforts to meet differences half-way (we do) but it's not legally required. We are quite worried as the new owners, while a large company themselves, are already trying to pull us across with worse benefits. Some examples: At 15 years you get an extra weeks holiday every year, at the new company you get 500 quid. Our very lucrative SAYE scheme is not being replaced or bought out. 4 x salary pay out to next of kin if death in service, new company, nothing. These are just a few examples, there are many more.
I would be interested to hear from people who have gone through similar situations to hear how things turned out. To be honest, redundancy wouldn't be the worst thing here. I am due 1 month to every year served which I think has to be honoured when they take over our contracts.
eliot said:
MrSmith901 said:
I am due 1 month to every year served which I think has to be honoured when they take over our contracts.
statutory redundancy pay is capped at £19k so i wouldn’t get too excited We have the same system and my predecessor received £208k after 25 years service. She then got pretty much the same job with one of our competitors
Don't panic. Various reasons for that,
1. There's nothing you can do about it. If your employer wants to sell a business they're perfectly entitled to do so. Unless you're workplace unionised up to the neck you have no say in the matter.
2. It might not be as bad as you think, so wait and see. You have contractual rights which carry across to the new employer. Keep in mind the value of the overall package as well.
3. If you've been receiving additional discretionary benefits (non-contractual) then accept that was past good fortune you were lucky to have.
4. Yes, Sharesave schemes can be nice and have various tax benefits. But bear in mind if you really want to invest in your former employer you can still do so with significant tax advantages via a normal ISA
1. There's nothing you can do about it. If your employer wants to sell a business they're perfectly entitled to do so. Unless you're workplace unionised up to the neck you have no say in the matter.
2. It might not be as bad as you think, so wait and see. You have contractual rights which carry across to the new employer. Keep in mind the value of the overall package as well.
3. If you've been receiving additional discretionary benefits (non-contractual) then accept that was past good fortune you were lucky to have.
4. Yes, Sharesave schemes can be nice and have various tax benefits. But bear in mind if you really want to invest in your former employer you can still do so with significant tax advantages via a normal ISA
TUPE'd a few times, actually full circle away from the large German based firm I work for, out via different IT companies Atos, Phoenix back to the large German based firm!
Going full circle I actually picked up a few things, I now have an extra day annual leave, BUPA is paid for rather than contributory but in the 10yrs or so I was "away" we did lose the long term service awards to be replaced with x£20 per year at points 10 and 20 service. We also lost any bonus but they did give us an extra payment per month to the equivalent of 60% of what our bonus had been in the last year - so there is some compromise to be found.
Keep a copy of everything, ask questions about anything you are unsure of - we had a fellow colleague who transferred away to a different firm Carillion and Veolia and in doing so he lost his PHI cover which would have paid out 70% salary until pension age in the event of him being accepted as too ill to work which he could have done with when he was struck down and could no longer work!
Going full circle I actually picked up a few things, I now have an extra day annual leave, BUPA is paid for rather than contributory but in the 10yrs or so I was "away" we did lose the long term service awards to be replaced with x£20 per year at points 10 and 20 service. We also lost any bonus but they did give us an extra payment per month to the equivalent of 60% of what our bonus had been in the last year - so there is some compromise to be found.
Keep a copy of everything, ask questions about anything you are unsure of - we had a fellow colleague who transferred away to a different firm Carillion and Veolia and in doing so he lost his PHI cover which would have paid out 70% salary until pension age in the event of him being accepted as too ill to work which he could have done with when he was struck down and could no longer work!
eliot said:
MrSmith901 said:
I am due 1 month to every year served which I think has to be honoured when they take over our contracts.
statutory redundancy pay is capped at £19k so i wouldn’t get too excited OP - in broad simplistic terms, if you have a benefit that is specified in your contract - for example, your enhanced redundancy scheme - then that should be carried over under TUPE.
If there is a non-contractual benefit, maybe the life insurance policy, that can be altered in line with the new company policy.
Of course, the new business may choose to offer you a new contract with new terms. You aren't obliged to accept that, but the alternative would be redundancy.
To be clear if you've been divested, nothing other than the owner of the business has changed, your employee contract is still the same and still with the same employing entity (even if it changes it's name to reflect new ownership). So TUPE does not apply. Certain things like SAYE share scheme may simply not be replicable by the new owners if they are not a FTSE listed org and are not contractual anyway so tough basically.
In terms of immediate/future changes to existing T&Cs then they will have to negotiate that with you personally (if no representative works council or recognised unions) the same they would for changes to an existing workforces package. Some companies will do that through buyouts and others will just remove them and deal with the consequences, ie. attrition and employee tribunals.
In terms of immediate/future changes to existing T&Cs then they will have to negotiate that with you personally (if no representative works council or recognised unions) the same they would for changes to an existing workforces package. Some companies will do that through buyouts and others will just remove them and deal with the consequences, ie. attrition and employee tribunals.
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