TUPE transfer and maternity pay

[KENVANCE]

Hi all,

This is my first post so be gentle please I am in need of some advice.

My fiancee is 21 weeks pregnant now (yay us) and works for a massive fast food company that specialises in chicken (im sure you can guess).
She is the store manager and the store is a company store ie. not franchise.

Because of her length of service and the fact she is a manager she was entitled to 2months full pay and 2months half pay then statutory maternity pay after that. We were happy - all was covered financially.

She was called to a meeting today and informed this well known restaurant owner (company store) was being made franchise and her employment was being TUPE'd over to the new employer.

Now apparently the new employer will only be paying statutory and not the enhanced maternity pay.

I thought terms and conditions were also covered - am I wrong?

Can they do this?

Best regards
ken

[Eloise01]

Re: TUPE transfer and maternity pay

Sort of but also not entirely. Terms and conditions are protected at the point of transfer, but that does not mean that they cannot be changed subsequently, and if the employer can show good cause on business grounds, then yes, it could well be lawful to make this change. I suspect that the new owner is going to say that he cannot afford the terms that a big company can (and he may well be right!) and that on business grounds he cannot sustain that term. This is one in which only a tribunal can determine the answer - if you challenge this change of the term (which you must do through a grievance) and the employer changes it anyway, a tribunal must determine whether the change is justified. Nobody could give you an absolute answer except a tribunal.

[KENVANCE]

Re: TUPE transfer and maternity pay

Many thanks for the reply. Basically it's looking like we are screwed then. I was under the impression, maybe wrong, that the new employer was not allowed to change the T&c's if it was to solely save money. Am clutching at straws I know but it's going to make the difference between a few good months and a tough couple of months.

[Eloise01]

Re: TUPE transfer and maternity pay

Actually "to save money" if it is money they don't have is a really excellent business reason! The truth is, as I said, I can't give you an answer. Conditions are protected at the time of transfer, but how long they are protected after that isn't set down in law. THEORETICALLY they are protected for ever. Except when there are good reasons why they can't or shouldn't be. And therein lies the problem. Only a tribunal can make the determination.