Legal Question in Employment Law in United Kingdom

Re: Redundancy and Out sourcing

In most circumstances where outsourcing of particular functions or departments takes place the affected employees will be protrected under TUPE because it will be treated as a "transfer" of an "undertaking"

Under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (�TUPE�) where there is a transfer of an �undertaking� or �business� any employee of that undertaking or business who is dismissed for a reason connected with the transfer will normally be considered to have been dismissed unfairly. Any employees of the undertaking or business who are deemed transferred to a new employer retain the employment rights that they had during their employment with the "transferring" employer, most notably the right not to be dismissed unfairly and uninterrupted continuous employment for the purposes of calculating redundancy and compensatory awards.

A TUPE transfer can occur even if the parties do not intend it in some circumstances. Employees have a rights to notification and consultation under the regulations.

Usually a Tupe dismissal will be unfair rather than a redundancy therefore and the compensation much higher if the employee has been employed for more than one year