Law queries

If workers who were transferred from their original employer to a new employer are then transferred back to the original employer, are they still covered by the transfer regulations?

The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981(TUPE) cover all cases of transfers where the business moves from one employer to another, including cases where work has been contracted-out and then is contracted back in. Workers follow their work and retain their existing terms and conditions. A contracting back in of services is treated in exactly the same way as a contracting-out.

In one Employment Appeal Tribunal case (EAT) the Council of Isles of Scilly contracted out baggage and fire fighting services and then later took them back in-house. The employees concerned retained their TUPE protection through both transfers.

* More information: Council of the Isles of Scilly v Brintel Helicopters and Ellis [1995] IRLR 6; LRD booklet, Transfers - an LRD guide to the TUPE regulations