Length of service

Case 2: The facts

Mrs Watson was employed for 27 years before her employer, Fisher Foods, went into administration. She received redundancy pay and outstanding wages and holiday through the national insurance fund, as her employer was insolvent. A few weeks later, the business was bought by Pinguin Foods, which took on all the employees who had been made redundant and told them their employment with Fisher would be deemed to be continuous. Two years later, Watson was unfairly dismissed.

The issues was whether her compensation should be calculated on two years' service or 27 (on the basis that her employment had transferred under the TUPE regulations).

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that Watson had been made redundant when Fisher Foods went into liquidation; her employment with Pinguin had been under a new and separate contract of employment, which was not covered by the TUPE regulations. Although her new employer was entitled to treat her employment as continuous for the purposes of notice, the legal position was that it was not. She was therefore entitled to a basic award based on two years' service only.

Watson v Pinguin Foods UK Ltd UKEAT/0120/06