Employers off the hook for redundancy payments if employees refuse to transfer
If this sounds familiar to your situation, read on.
In Symantec Limited v Leddy, Symantec Limited v Lyons, the High Court looked at the position of an employee where the employee did not wish to transfer to the new owner of a business/undertaking under the European Communities (Protection of Employers on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003.
The regulations provide that the responsibility for employees transfers to the new employer and an employee cannot be dismissed and neither can their terms or conditions be altered on transfer. There are exceptions to this where an employer clams that due to economic technical or organisational reasons the redundancies are necessary.
Originally, the EC Directive made it possible to make both the former employer and the new employer responsible for employees but this did not happen in the Irish regulations. The EAT had found that an employee could claim a redundancy payment from their original employer if they refused to transfer to a new employer.
The High Court overturned the EAT decision and found that where there has been a transfer of an undertaking, the original employer is relieved of obligations to its former employees and if an employee decides not to transfer to a new employer, the employer is not entitled to redundancy from their former employer.
This is a summary of recent legal developments. Specific legal advice should be obtained in every situation. If you have any queries regarding the advice please contact Davnet O’Driscoll Associate Solicitor of the Employment Law team at dodriscoll@hayes-solicitors.ie