TUPE: No Post-Transfer Duty to Consult for Transferee Employers

In Amicus v Glasgow City Council UKEATS/0007/08 and 0014/08, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 ("TUPE"), a transferee employer is not obliged to consult with transferred employees after a transfer about measures it envisages taking in relation to them.

Glasgow City Council decided to transfer its Building Services Division to a newly incorporated operation called City Building (Glasgow) LLP ("City Building"). The transfer of 2000 employees took place in October 2006.

TUPE provides that consultation is only required if the employer "envisages that he will take measures in relation to an affected employee in connection with the relevant transfer" (regulation 13(6)). Assuming that the transferee employer envisages "taking measures" connected with the transfer in relation to such employees, the issue in this case was whether reg 13(6) obliges the transferee to consult with employees after they have been transferred to it. The Unions argued that regulation 13(6) imposed that obligation. The employers argued that it did not.

The EAT upheld the Tribunal's finding that there was no obligation to consult with employees post-transfer. It was decided that the cut off date for consultation is the date of transfer.