Spaceright Europe Ltd v Baillavoine and another [2011] EWCA Civ 1565, [2011] All ER (D) 106 (Dec)
The natural and ordinary meaning of the language of reg 7(1) of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/246), did not require a particular transfer or transferee to be in existence or in contemplation at the time of the dismissal. The exercise under reg 7(1) only had to be carried out if there had been both a dismissal, which was claimed to be automatically unfair, and a relevant transfer. If, on the one hand, no relevant transfer had ever taken place, there would be no basis for making a claim for automatic unfair dismissal for a transfer-related reason. The regulation would simply not have been engaged. If, on the other hand, a dismissal and a relevant transfer had taken place, the regulation could be engaged.
The employment tribunal was then required by the regulation to look to the fact of dismissal and, as a matter of the objective assessment of the evidence, to determine the reason for it and whether that reason had been “connected with” the
