TUPE transfer

[FathomIt9]

Hi, this may get a little long but I'll the to keep it brief but descript.

Up until recently I worked for a company that operated 3 businesses. We will call them A, B & C (this one isn't really important)

My contract (I believed) was with business A, although I worked mostly in business B, but did work across all 3 businesses.

Business A was leased out to another company. A handful of staff including myself were informed that we had been TUPE'd over (8 days after the transfer had happened); this was the first we heard of it.

I'm currently in early concillation regarding the failure to inform & consult with regards to the transfer; but this isn't the focus here - (this is just the background info)

Anyway, last week whilst getting some information together I came across an email that I had previously missed or just took no notice of. The email was from the managing director of the company which operated the 3 (now 2) businesses. The email was dated over a month prior to business A being leased out and its contents were confirmation that he had personally authorised my transfer from business A to business B.

I didn't sign anything to this effect, however I did request the transfer and got email confirmation from the managing director of the company.

The new company I was transferred to has folded less than 3 months after the transfer took place.

I believe that I shouldn't have been transferred along with business A to begin with, as I had supposedly already transferred to business B before this even took place.

My question is this - is this grounds for an unfair dismissal claim against the original company?

[ULA]

Hi can you just confirm, my understanding of your post?

There was an email directly to you from the MD which indicated that you had been transferred from Co A to Co B prior to Co A transferring to an external company. You accepted this transfer to Co B and your acceptance was acknowledged by MD of Co B? This all happened

prior to the transfer of co A?

Did you receive any further documentation about your transfer to Co B? Did this company have a different name to Co A?

[FathomIt9]

Hi, a better way I could describe the situation would probably be it was 3 locations operated by the same company. Staff were often shared amongst the locations.

I requested a transfer from location A, to location B. MD messaged me directly to confirm that he has authorised my transfer from location A to location B. This happened prior to location A being leased out to another company.

I did not sign anything to this effect, I sent the request via email, it was authorised by the MD via messenger. There was no further documentation.

The 3 locations were operated by the same company, staff usually worked in multiple locations however our contracts would have our employment location as the location we were initially employed at. Any work at locations other than the location in my contract was at your own discretion; work in my contract location was mandatory. It's my contract location that would have changed in the event of an internal transfer. The company itself remained the same.

It was around 6 weeks after my internal transfer that location A itself was transferred to another company, I and a handful of other staff members along with it.

I believe I shouldn't have been transferred out to the receiving company on the basis that my contract supposedly was transferred to location B.

[ULA]

With nothing formally in writing from the MD it would come down to whether the confirmation via messenger that your email request to move to location B is considered at acceptance that your contractual location has changed.

Have you been in contact with the MD and asked why given this exchange you were transferred to the new company that took over location A?

[FathomIt9]

As soon as I and the rest of the staff were individually informed of the tupe transfer (8 days after it actually happened) all communications from the staff that were transferred have been completely ignored; including SAR's. No responses whatsoever up until ACAS got involved regarding the failure to inform/consult. At this point being in early concillation I don't think it would be a good idea to contact them directly?

As soon as I found out about the transfer having already happened I emailed the MD as despite not at that moment remembering that my transfer was authorised I saw my main location as location B due to the majority of my work being there. My contracted hours just could not be met in location A alone.

A few days before we were informed that we had been transferred I had a meeting with the MD who told me that the owner of the company who took over the lease of location A wanted me due to my knowledge of the location amongst other things, and that if I wanted to work there they would transfer me. The purpose of the meeting was to get my permission to pass my contact information along. MD asked to keep him updated on my decision as I chose not to make it there having not spoken to the new leaseholder yet. (it would later turn out that the transfer had already taken place a day before this meeting) A couple days after the meeting I emailed the MD to let him know that I have decided I will be staying. This was ignored and a couple days later I was informed that I had been transferred; however the transfer actually happened 8 days before this, which was also a day before the meeting with the MD. I had minutes from this meeting that I took myself as the company would be unwilling to provide them, as they haven't been in the past.

I sent my minutes along around 3 months ago now requesting that the MD confirm their accuracy. This was also ignored.

[FathomIt9]

Specifically regarding the the internal transfer rather than the TUPE transfer -

I informed my immediate manager about my wish to transfer internally from location A to location B.

I officially requested said transfer to my immediate manager.

I informed MD of my wishes, and my request.

2-3 weeks later MD messaged me to say he had authorised my internal transfer.

6 weeks later I was transferred to another company along with location A, since then all attempts at communication with the company has been ignored (except for ACAS regarding the TUPE transfer)