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If your employer is involved in a transfer or takeover there is certain information they must provide about the workforce to your new employer. Your employment rights are protected and your future employer cannot 'pick and choose' which employees they take on.
The employer who is transferring you to a new employer (called the ‘transferring employer’) must provide your new employer with information about the transferring employees, including:
This information should be provided at least two weeks before the completion of the transfer. It should help your new employer to understand your rights and their duties and obligations to prepare for your arrival.
Your future employer cannot pick and choose which employees to take on, they also cannot dismiss you just because a transfer has happened.
If you are dismissed in connection with the transfer this is automatically unfair, unless there is an 'economic, technical or organisational' reason for a change in the workforce.
An example of an economic technical or organisational change to the workforce could be the need for redundancies because a contract was unexpectedly lost.
Your employer should not, for example, take staff on as part of the workforce and then decide that the workforce is too large and make redundancies. This would be a reason connected with the transfer.
Acas (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) offers confidential help and advice on employment rights. Alternatively, you could contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau for help.
If you cannot resolve the problem with the employer informally, you may be able to make a complaint to an Employment Tribunal. You must be an employee, have 12 months' continuous employment and either:
If you want to make a claim to an Employment Tribunal for any of these reasons you must make your complaint within three months. If you want to make a claim for a redundancy payment, you should make a claim within six months.