No guarantee on terms
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• The employment rights of drivers and transport staff took another blow last week when the Court of Appeal ruled that employees are not guaranteed their terms and conditions if their work is taken on by another contractor.
The decision against seven workers employed by a helicopter company follows a similar judgement at the European Court of Justice—which has just ruled that when work transfers from one contractor to another, the winning company is not automatically compelled to take on the previous employers' staff on their old terms and conditions (CM 20-26 March).
The European Court ruling heralded a reduction in employment rights for employees.
Now the Appeal Court has agreed with the ECJ's ruling, the Trades Union Congress believes that smaller groups of employees (those operating around 20 trucks) are most at risk.
However, the TUC's employment rights officer Sarah Veale says employers will also have difficulties as a result of the two rulings.
"It will be unfortunate for employers because the subsequent contractor does not have to take on, or pay for the redundancy of, the existing staff. Redundancies will land on the original contractor," she says.