Latest News

  • Jungheinrich’s ERE 225i compact truck wins Red Dot Award
  • New Hyster A Series Lift Trucks Scale to Industry Challenges
  • Clark introduces new high-lift pallet truck with mono mast and initial lift
  • New Modulean Rack End Boards, from workplace visual communications and safety products specialists Beaverswood
  • Jungheinrich introduces POWERLiNE lithium-ion trucks to market 
  • Home
  • News
  • Materials Handling
  • Health & Safety
  • Notice Board
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Book Review
    • T.V.
    • Video
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Google+
    • Pinterest
    • RSS Feed
    • Linked
    • Youtube

Stobart case highlights TUPE compliance to 3PL sector

Apr 15, 2012 Warehousing Ireland News 0


The recent decision by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) that Eddie Stobart  Ltd had failed to comply with its obligations under the TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006) when it closed one of its warehouses, should act as reminder to the logistics industry of the importance of adhering to the TUPE rules, the United Kingdom Warehousing Association (UKWA) has warned.

“The TUPE rules can create problems for service providers – such as third party logistics companies – if they win new business or give up a contract,” says Simon Edwards, UKWA’s Legal Adviser .

“Broadly speaking, under TUPE if a 3PL wins a new contract, it may inherit relevant workers from the previous contractor if they have been part of a group organised to serve that particular customer.  This can mean becoming responsible for a group of workers’ accrued service and employment rights. The 3PL may even find that it has to compensate its new inherited employees for failing to consult in advance of winning the contract.”

“But TUPE impacts on a company that loses a contract too: It is sometimes difficult to demonstrate that a group of workers is dedicated to one particular contract so, if that contract is lost, the workers will not necessarily transfer across to the contractor and redundancy payments may be due if they have to be laid off.. This often happens at multi-user warehouse facilities where workers are servicing a number of clients.”

The Stobart case centered around a meat warehouse operated by the company. By 2009 only two suppliers were using the facility – Forza and Vion. Stobart’s night-shift employees worked primarily on the Forza contract and its day-shift workers worked primarily on the Vion contract.

In 2009 Vion arranged for their work to be taken over by a new logistics company – FJG.

Stobart thought that TUPE should apply to transfer the workers to FJG on the basis that the employees spent the majority of their time performing Vion work and notified them that they would transfer.

FJG did not agree that TUPE applied and did not accept that the employees were transferring.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal sided with FJG because, although the Stobart workers spent the majority of their time working for a particular customer they were not ‘organised’ on the basis of the Vion contract, but on the basis of the shift they worked.

“The point of the EAT’s decision is that it is crucial to see whether there is an ‘organised grouping’ by reference to the customer.  Where an employer has staff working on a contract that is expected to be lost and does not want to pay redundancy, the employer should ensure that employees clearly belong to a group organised by reference to the customer, for instance, referred to as ‘Contract X team’ in some way,” says Simon Edwards.

Simon Edwards continues: “TUPE issues are often perceived as a problem for the Human Resources department to contend with, but I believe they are a key commercial issue and a company’s potential obligations under TUPE must be considered when tendering for new business, assessing the risk and pricing accordingly.

“Although the Stobart case arose out of a lost contract, if you are a 3PL business development manager it is vitally important to know what you are taking on when you pitch for new business and you should always enquire whether the existing 3PL has employees organized around the customer’s needs.  It is quite easy to see how the anticipated profit from a new contract can be eaten into by the costs that might be incurred under TUPE obligations and these should be factored in from the outset,” he adds.

UKWA members have access to a free 24-hour legal hotline where they can discuss TUPE and other legal matters relevant to their business.

Tweet

  • tweet
Flexi European HiTech version of top selling articulated truck PK 14502-SH and PK 18502-SH High Performance

Warehousing Ireland

Related articles
  • Jungheinrich’s ERE 225i compact truck wins Red Dot Award
    Jungheinrich’s ERE 225i compact...

    Jul 03, 2022 Comments Off on Jungheinrich’s ERE 225i compact truck wins Red Dot Award

  • New Hyster A Series Lift Trucks Scale to Industry Challenges
    New Hyster A Series Lift Trucks Scale...

    Jul 03, 2022 Comments Off on New Hyster A Series Lift Trucks Scale to Industry Challenges

  • Clark introduces new high-lift pallet truck with mono mast and initial lift
    Clark introduces new high-lift pallet...

    Jul 03, 2022 Comments Off on Clark introduces new high-lift pallet truck with mono mast and initial lift

More in this category
  • Ideally-located & secure HGV storage & warehousing site for rent at Cranford, near Kettering
    Ideally-located & secure HGV...

    Jun 26, 2021 Comments Off on Ideally-located & secure HGV storage & warehousing site for rent at Cranford, near Kettering

  • tesa packaging tape brings food storage in from the cold
    tesa packaging tape brings food storage...

    Jul 07, 2019 Comments Off on tesa packaging tape brings food storage in from the cold

  • Yale Europe Materials Handling expands tow tractor range
    Yale Europe Materials Handling expands...

    May 13, 2018 Comments Off on Yale Europe Materials Handling expands tow tractor range


Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Tweets by @warehousingIrl

Recent Posts

Forklift market rebound causes gap between order intakes and shipments

Forklift market rebound causes gap between order intakes and shipments

Nov 24, 2021 Comments Off on Forklift market rebound causes gap between order intakes and shipments

Long-term forecast of global market in 2028 raised by 40% APAC accounts for 54% of 2021 forklift shipments E-commerce, digitalization, and electrification will drive the market  Updated...
The new Visuclean vinyl from Beaverswood

The new Visuclean vinyl from Beaverswood

May 01, 2021 Comments Off on The new Visuclean vinyl from Beaverswood

New Modulean Lite shadow boards from Beaverswood

New Modulean Lite shadow boards from Beaverswood

Nov 14, 2020 Comments Off on New Modulean Lite shadow boards from Beaverswood

Hyster Europe expands its range of electric counterbalance lift trucks

Hyster Europe expands its range of electric...

Sep 13, 2020 Comments Off on Hyster Europe expands its range of electric counterbalance lift trucks

Linde Training Solutions – Well Trained Without Fail

Linde Training Solutions – Well Trained...

Aug 09, 2020 Comments Off on Linde Training Solutions – Well Trained Without Fail

Recent Posts

RHA launches tail lift safety guidance

RHA launches tail lift safety guidance

May 15, 2021 Comments Off on RHA launches tail lift safety guidance

The Road Haulage Association in the UK has published long-awaited guidance to improve safety around the use of tail lifts. The Tail Lift and Pallet Truck Guidance Document released aims to...
Axial Properties Ltd fined €80,000 following serious incident in Clonee warehouse

Axial Properties Ltd fined €80,000 following...

Nov 22, 2020 Comments Off on Axial Properties Ltd fined €80,000 following serious incident in Clonee warehouse

New Modulean Lite shadow boards from Beaverswood

New Modulean Lite shadow boards from Beaverswood

Nov 14, 2020 Comments Off on New Modulean Lite shadow boards from Beaverswood

How to safely buy a used ATEX forklift

How to safely buy a used ATEX forklift

Jul 12, 2020 Comments Off on How to safely buy a used ATEX forklift

A-SAFE launches new hygiene partition for industrial facilities

A-SAFE launches new hygiene partition for...

May 31, 2020 Comments Off on A-SAFE launches new hygiene partition for industrial facilities

Newsletter

Recent Posts

  • Jungheinrich’s ERE 225i compact truck wins Red Dot Award
  • New Hyster A Series Lift Trucks Scale to Industry Challenges
  • Clark introduces new high-lift pallet truck with mono mast and initial lift
  • New Modulean Rack End Boards, from workplace visual communications and safety products specialists Beaverswood
  • Jungheinrich introduces POWERLiNE lithium-ion trucks to market 
  • Garbe Industrial Real Estate hands over new Warehouse to Iron Mountain in Germany
  • BotsAndUs White Paper on Warehouse Management Systems
  • New Hyster Forklift set for launch at Logimat 2022
  • iF Design Award for Jungheinrich’s ERE 225i 
  • Groundbreaking ceremony for logistics centre in Bitterfeld-Wolfen 
  • Groundbreaking ceremony for new Jungheinrich plant at Chomutov, Czech Republic
  • CKF design and build Auto Packer cell for bio-bean, the world’s largest recycler of coffee grounds
  • Gowan Group moves to new impressive new facility at Citywest
  • Jungheinrich starts 2022 financial year in line with expectations
  • EPAL pallet production reaches record levels in 2021
Copyright 2020 Warehousing Ireland / All rights reserved