Employment
TUPE has been found to apply to solicitors firms, in the first case of its kind.
An employment tribunal ruled The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations applied where Southport firm Barnetts solicitors won a contract to do conveyancing from the Britannia Building Society. Six Lees Lloyd Whitley solicitors and support staff, who had worked on the Britannia contract, resigned when Barnetts took over the contract. They claimed Barnetts had repudiated their contracts.
In Royden v Barnetts, Barnetts argued that TUPE did not apply. The tribunal, however, unanimously held that two of Lees Lloyd Whitley’s employees had transferred.
The tribunal found Barnetts had unfairly dismissed two of the employees, and had failed in their duty to consult.
