The amended TUPE rules give new employers the certainty that they will not be affected by decisions on the terms and conditions of their employees that will be made after the transfer, unless they themselves have been involved in those decisions. Both the new employer and the former employer must inquire about collective agreements prior to the transfers of the TUPE and ensure that the disclosure and consultation obligations are met. One year after the transfer, future employers can renegotiate the terms of a collective agreement, provided that the overall change is no less favourable to the workers concerned. The amendments to the TUPE regulations were implemented on January 31, 2014 to reflect the Alemo Herron decision. In the case of Alemo-Herron and others against Parkwood Leisure Limited, the issue was whether the terms of a collective agreement negotiated through a central bargaining forum were linked by a worker-friendly employer (i.e. the new private contractor) for the workers who supervised them under the TUPE. even if it had not had the opportunity to participate in negotiations on the terms of the collective agreement. The British courts disagreed on which of the two interpretations was preferable to the Acquired Rights Directive. Both approaches were: two amendments to the TUPE regulations determine the date on which the terms of collective agreements can be changed in a transfer situation. In Werhof, the collective agreement in question had been negotiated by a employers` organization whose transferor belonged, but not the purchaser. Three years after the date of the transfer, the employers` organization has agreed on a new collective agreement with higher rates of pay. The entitled worker, who had spent time with the company, attempted to argue that he was entitled to the increased rate of pay under the new collective agreement (i.e., a “dynamic” construction). The ECJ objected and decided that EU law – in particular the Grandfathers Directive (ARD) – did not intend the takers to be bound by collective agreements other than those in force at the time of the transfer.
Such an interpretation is consistent with the objective of the legislation to preserve the rights and interests of workers in force at the time of the transfer. Their purpose was not to protect future expectations of hypothetical rights or benefits that could result from future changes to collective agreements. In the event of a transfer, these agreements are transferred to the incoming employer. In practice, these specific conditions will bind the purchaser even after the transfer if certain conditions have been included in a worker`s contract under a collective agreement negotiated between the ceding party and the ceding union`s approved union. If, for example, conditions relating to the agreed additional wage increases were included in the employment contract over a period including the additional period, the purchaser is bound by these additional wage increases.