Get TUPE wrong and the financial exposure can outweigh the value of the deal itself. We help you work out whether it applies, and what to do if it does.
TUPE can apply more often than people expect: business sales and purchases, asset acquisitions, outsourcing, insourcing, retendering, mergers and internal restructures can all trigger it. The first question is always whether it applies at all. Get that wrong, and you inherit consultation failures and liability for terms and conditions you never agreed to.
We advise on employee transfers, changes to terms and conditions, redundancy and dismissals connected with a transfer, and the indemnities and warranties that allocate risk between buyer and seller. Where TUPE sits alongside a wider corporate transaction, we work alongside the lawyers handling that deal, so employment issues get picked up before completion rather than after.
Whoever assumes TUPE doesn’t apply is usually the one who ends up paying for it.
Sometimes TUPE comes up early: you’re structuring an asset purchase and want to know what you’re taking on before you sign anything. Other times it surfaces mid-transaction, when a service provision change means staff transfer whether anyone planned for it or not. Either way, the sooner we’re involved, the more options you have.
If you’re not sure which of these fits your situation, call us, and we’ll point you in the right direction.
