Company is selling... employment rights??

[Lunamoon23]

Hello.

I work for a small family run business and they told us a couple months ago that they'd decided to put the buisness up for sale.
We were informed today that there is someone who is interested and understandably it's left all the staff a little worried.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience in employment law that could answer some questions for me and the staff.
(Side note, we all have employment contracts)

Im the manageress and have been with the buisness for 15 years.
I am paid a generous salary, have increased annual leave due to length of service and work set days and hours every week.

Can the new owner legally change any of that??

Our opening hours are quite short but they're 7 days a week.
Can the new owner legally change our opening hours and enforce staff to work them? (Many are worried about this as many staff have children, the hours allow for school drop off and collection)

We are paid a bonus every Christmas.
Can the new owner remove this legally?

And anything else that you can inform us of in regard to our rights as employees with new ownership taking place.
We are not part of a union or anything. Our current employers are fantastic, and we're all gutted they could be changing and understandably worried about what this could mean for us.

Happy to answer any questions if more info is needed xxxxx

https://www.acas.org.uk/tupe

https://www.gov.uk/transfers-takeovers

You have protections in place under TUPE regulations.

Your salary & annual leave are protected.

Working hours can be a little trickier and can be changed if there is an economical, technical or organisational need for the change. There would need to be proper consultation for this.

Is the Christmas bonus contractual?

Technically you’d all be TUPE workers, but the new owner can depart from things for 3 reasons: economical, technical or organisational. As long as they can make an argument under those reasons then they can make changes to your contracts, so bonuses etc economic, organisational for working days/hours if they have an argument.

I've been through TUPE several times. Mostly people are very keen to stay on the right side of all the rules that protect you.

You should fine for the main part.

Yes Christmas bonus is contractual. Xxxxx

So for working hours/days - could they say ' we've decided to open longer hours and require you to work from x-y now' and that'd be a good enough reason?

Definitely

I'm currently going through the TUPE process, but unsure if I'll move to the new employer as my current employer has offered a different role within the business.

I have 15 staff members also going through TUPE. First time for us all so has taken some understanding.

Some info has been non existent so far but have had it confirmed in writing the new owner is unable to alter pay, annual leave allowance, working hours & contract for the first 12 months they take over the business. Whether 12 months is law I don't know but seems fair to maintain stability in the early days & to honour existing employees. Good luck, it's a tricky time

Yes.

@tractive are you aware if they extend my working hours would they be obligated to up my salary, as currently my salary is based on my hours worked. If they extended the opening hours I'd be working more hours presumably. X

Sadly they're reaching retirement age, they're heavily involved with the business (both chefs) and need to take a step back from it all. Understandable, running a business is a lot. Sad though as they're great employers. X

No not declining. The business has gone from Strength to strength since the current owners have had it. They bounced back after covid fantastically and even with added economic pressures is very successful for a independant eatery.

TUPE doesn't apply if it's a share sale. If the shares are changing hands then your contract (which I presume is with the company) will continue on unaffected.
If it's a business and asset sale then tupe will apply (as the business will transfer out of the company you are contracted to, and into another corporate entity, with your employment contract essentially moving across to that new entity) and you will have the protection of that regime.
Obviously the new owner will be at liberty to make whatever changes they see fit for the needs of the business but they will have to observe the terms of your employment contract and employment law in general, or else you might have a claim against them.
If the bonus is discretionary then it gets complicated- you should seek some advice around this and if you're in any doubt ask if it can be formalised into something which will survive the sale process.

If you are employed by Acme Ltd now and will continue to be employed by Acme Ltd after the acquisition, then TUPE will not apply.

TUPE only applies if the identity of the business changes (e.g. a merger where the original business no longer exists) or if employees are transferred between one business and another.

TUPE actually only applies if it’s a transfer of undertaking. If they are selling the business by way of a share buy-out and the identity of the business remains the same but there are new owners/shareholders then everything just continues as normal. So it really depends on how the purchase is going to be done. But even if it’s not a TUPE it doesn’t mean they can’t consult with you to change any number of your terms and conditions (within the statutory boundaries for things like annual leave and pay of course).

So the company name isn't going to change, they're effectively selling the buissness as is to new ownership. So does that mean non of our rights are actually protected?

@tractive yes, once before. They've owned it for 10 years, but the female owner worked for the company and brought it off the previous owner then. So they were very much known to staff whereas this will be someone completely new, also with the new owners having worked for the previous, they valued the staff a lot more and made changes for the better - it really wasn't daunting at all. X