The applicant’s employers were in financial difficulties, and the businesses were to be sold. The buyer and seller agreed that only a certain number of employees would come into the business, and the applicant, among others, was dismissed. The employers said he had been dismissed several hours before the agreement for sale, and was not employed at the time of the transfer, having been dismissed for an economic, technical or organizational (ETO) reason.
Held: The two regulations are exclusive. If, 8(2) applies then the purposive construction following from 8(1) does not apply. If an ETO reason was established, it must relate to the future conduct of the business. In this case, but for the purchaser, all the employees would have been dismissed. Any liability for the dismissal was not transferred.
EAT Transfer of Undertakings – Economic Technical or Organisational Reason
Mr Recorder Burke QC
EAT/34/00
Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 8(1) 8(2)
England and Wales
Updated: 30 August 2021; Ref: scu.168327
