Pensions after a transfer

Case 3: The facts

This long-running case involved part-time employees in the electricity industry who were transferred under TUPE following privatisation. They brought equal pay claims because they had been excluded from joining their original employer’s occupational pension scheme, but the claims were issued more than six months after the transfer.

A claim under the Equal Pay Act must be brought within six months of the end of the employment to which it relates.

The ruling

As occupational pension rights do not transfer under TUPE, the only liability for the claim arises from the original contract prior to transfer. Upholding the Court of Appeal’s ruling (see Workplace Report, April 2005), the House of Lords has held that the time limit for equal pay pensions claims following a transfer runs from the date that employment with the old employer ended. The claims therefore could not succeed.

Powerhouse Retail Ltd v Burroughs [2006] UKHL 13 ([2006] IRLR 381)