Employees protected by TUPE in administration cases

Key2Law (Surrey) Ltd v De'Antiquis [2011] EWCA Civ 1567

  • Endorsing the Employment Appeal Tribunal's (EAT) decision in OTG v Barke, the Court of Appeal held that Administrations cannot be "insolvency proceedings which have been instituted with a view to the liquidation of the assets of the Transferor" (under the Regulation 8(7) exemption in TUPE 2006).
  • It followed that in a sale by an Administrator which was a "relevant transfer" the employees assigned to the undertaking transferred under TUPE and were protected against transfer-related dismissals.
  • Accordingly, Oakland v Wellswood, in which the EAT held that Regulation 8(7) can apply to Administrations in certain cases, was wrongly decided.