TUPE - Transferor Need Not be Employer

In its judgment in Albron Catering v FNV Bondgenoten the European Court of Justice appears to have widened the scope of the Directive which forms the basis of the UK TUPE Regulations.

One of the key provisions of the Directive, and the TUPE Regulations, is that, where there is a relevant business transfer, the transferor's rights and obligations as employer in relation to any employee working in that business transfer, automatically to the transferee.

But what happens to workers in the business where the transferor is not their employer?

The general rule is that they do not have the protection of the TUPE Regulations.

The Albron case concerned employees who worked for one company (Heineken Nederland) but were employed by HNB, another company within the Heineken group, which performed the function of a central employer within that group.