The company I work for is getting bought by a competitor.

There will be a fair amount of consolidation of roles but what happens if they want me? I’ve been there years and have good redundancy terms in my current contract. Financially it would be a lot better if I get made redundant then get a new job somewhere else.

I assume I’d have to sign a new contract with the company that buys us but if I don’t want to join then would they have to make me redundant or would I just have to leave and not get anything?

you don’t *have* to sign a new contract, they just pick up your old one under TUPE. They can make it attractive for you to sign a new contract.

Redundancy is in their control.

IANAL.

TUPE Information.
RM.

I assume I’d have to sign a new contract with the company that buys us but if I don’t want to join then would they have to make me redundant or would I just have to leave and not get anything?

Generally if you choose to not continue to work for the new company you will be deemed to have resigned. They under no obligation to offer you redundancy.

redundancy wont be up to you and they may let you , they may make you and they may not but the best you can do is volunteer to be made redundant of they offer it

You cannot make yourself redundant

as for TUPE it depends on how you were bought/merged/taken over

You need to read up on ‘tupe’ I think. It seems to play a huge part in how this is being handled with 2 clients of our who are merging. I doubt you can just say “no thanks” to the new company and get any automatic pay-out – they do have to give you the same terms though.

The rest really comes down to how they want to play it, often that means they’ll ask for people to put their hand up for redundancy – given the current level of employment in the UK and economic forecast I’d certainly take a payout now to walk from anywhere.

Doesn’t mean they have to offer it though, sometimes they talk about “natural wastage” if everyone has got solid gold redundancy terms it might be cheaper to just let 2 or even more people do the same job and just not replace them if/when they go somewhere else.

What wwaswas said, you’re not redundant, unless you’re redundant, depends who they want to keep, you or the same guy in the other company, you’ll just get TUPE’d.

You don’t have to accept emplyment under TUPE, you can just walk away, you’ll get nothing though.

Source for my info, old Rangers going bust and half their players walking away for heehaw! 😆

Oh, one thing – if you sign a new contract make sure the start date of employment is when you joined the original company, not the new one.

Hold on you lot! What’s with all the references to TUPE?

The OP said the company is being bought – that’s not a TUPE situation. The OP just remains on his/her existing terms until there’s the inevitable consolidation.

@ OP – get your manager and/or HR to explain whether the structure of the purchase means TUPE will apply.

ourmaninthenorth – Member
Hold on you lot! What’s with all the references to TUPE?

The OP said the company is being bought – that’s not a TUPE situation. The OP just remains on his/her existing terms until there’s the inevitable consolidation.

Probly fair comment, the Rangers situation was as (extremely dodgy) transfer of assets to a new holding company.

Or they’ll just renegotiate the redundancy terms before making a load of people redundant, which is what happened to me. My redundancy terms were far from awful, but I would have got thousands more – personally I’d have never agreed to the new terms, as the sweetener being offered was nothing like good enough IMHO, but then the union agreed them and I was deemed to have agreed by continuing working there.

Thanks Guys!

Will look into it, doubt our HR people have ever heard of TUPE as they are not based in the UK.

OK, here’s the slightly longer summary for the OP. This isn’t legal advice, by the way, so if you’re at all concerned, it might prove wise to get some. Not sure if you’re in England/Wales or Scotland, as it may differ.

1. Company is being bought

Strictly the company is the legal entity, e.g. Joe Bloggs Limited or John Smith plc. Inside that is the business, assets and all the people. If this is bought, then your employment doesn;t change – you’re still employed by the same company. Seller is/are the shareholder(s).

People also use “company” when they mean business – i.e. the goodwill and assets of a company. Often happens when a single company sells part of its going concern or used a a structure where there the buyer doesn;t want to take the liabilities. In this case TUPE applies. Seller is the company.

English law does not recognize the concept of a merger.

2. TUPE

So, if actually it’s the business and assets being sold, then TUPE applies. It was originally created to avoid scenarios where the goodwill and assets are sold and the employees left behind (and up a creek without a paddle). It’s a constantly moving area of law – employmenmt lawyers didn’t really exist much before the mid 1980s.

If TUPE applies, there is a legal obligaiton for you to be consulted with. You’ll know if this is happening.

3. Redundancy

Not actually connected to an acquisition. There is no automatic redudancy created in an acquisition.

It may, ultimately, come to be a consequence of the company/business being bought, but that will be as part of any consolidation of functions.

4. Redundancy terms

This depends, to be quite honest, on what your contract terms are and whether they are still applicable at the point of a redundancy consultation. This is definitely the time to get some independent legal advice so that you can be clear on whether you are being treated correctly should the inevitable arise.

the new company could buy the old company the one you work for asset strip it and then declare it insolvent, and youll just get statutory redundancy

I’d do some sniffing around to see what roles / departments may get cut and pray you’re in one of them 😀

Maybe stir things up a little so you might go on the exit list, but not too much to get you fired 😉

Any chance you have shares or share options in the existing company that would be bought by the new? That and redundancy was the big cash in for me with one of my old jobs. I was just waiting for the redundancy, which was torture as they went through a long consultation process.

Yes, have some shares which should vest when we get bought. Just hope they get a move on, been wanting to leave for months now.

When there was a round of redundancies at my place (post merger) there was basically two lists – those in scope and those not. When it was eventually determined which roles were being made redundant there was a bit of an internal swap-shop went on; those who wanted out could go and those who wanted to stay, but were due to go, re-trained to take their roles. That’s how I escaped 😆

Good luck getting the option you want.
It could be worse, I know people whose employer has said they are to be made redundant in the next 12-18mths but the employer is reducing the terms of their payout so they will get considerably less when it happens than they would under existing terms.

You need to understand whether TUPE applies or not. Making people redundant as a consequence of TUPE is automatically unfair dismissal and hopefully they’ll be at pains to avoid it. There should be a structured process and consultation (varies depending on numbers involved). Your old T&C’s are protected by TUPE.
Generally, if there’s a re-organisation then ideally they’ll seek VR’s before CR’s and hope to move those at risk into the roles vacated by the VRs. I work in HR for a FTSE 50 company

a clever company wont make any employee redundant.. they make the role redundant but offer an alternative role to the employee.. t&C may differ considerably howeveer emloyees stays on current T&C whilst they erode over a period of time..been done like this and done it to others..not a nice place to be..

My work have just been trough this, not a nice atmosphere at all. Be open and honest from the start and if they mention redundancies ask for a package for you to leave quietly and quickly.

They will probably get you to sign a non disclosure and also a no sue agreement in turn for a better package.