All employees are, with certain exceptions, entitled to receive statutory sick pay (SSP) from their employers. For further information, see Practice Note: Sick pay. There are certain exclusions to this right (see: Sick pay—SSP—excluded categories) but, importantly in this context, there is no minimum service requirement to become eligible for SSP. Because there is no minimum service requirement to become eligible for SSP, the issue of the amount of continuous service which the employee has is irrelevant for the purposes of SSP entitlement and, by extension, the issue of whether or not continuity is preserved on the change of employer is similarly irrelevant. Furthermore, the provisions in sections 210–219 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, which determine continuity of employment ‘for the purpose of employment rights under the Employment Rights Act’ (see Practice Note: Continuity of employment), have no application in the context of eligibility

A worker is entitled to a redundancy payment when: • he is an employee • he has been continuously employed for not less than two years • he has been dismissed, and • the dismissal was by reason of redundancy For the purposes of entitlement to a redundancy payment, dismissal means any situation where: • the employer terminates the contract, with or without notice • a limited term contract comes to an end and is not renewed • an employee is entitled to terminate the contract with or without notice by reason of the employer’s conduct, and does so (except by reason of a lock out) • notice is given by the employer and the employee subsequently gives notice in writing to terminate the contract before the end of the notice period • an act on the part of the employer operates to terminate the contract, and • an event affecting an employer

For information on changing terms and conditions of employment generally, see Practice Note: Changing terms and conditions of employment. Under section 145B of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULR(C)A 1992), it is unlawful for an employer to make an offer to a worker who is a member of an independent trade union which is recognised, or seeking to be recognised, by that employer, where the employer's sole or main purpose is that workers' terms of employment, or any of those terms, will not (or will no longer) be determined by collective agreement negotiated by or on behalf of

Consideration should be given to: • the definition of blackmail • the without prejudice rule Blackmail A person is guilty of blackmail if, with a view to gain for themselves or another or with intent to cause loss to another, they make any unwarranted demand with menaces. A demand with menaces is unwarranted unless the person making it does so in the belief that: • they have reasonable grounds for making the demand, and • the use of the menaces is a proper means of reinforcing the demand Menaces are serious or significant

On a relevant transfer under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE 2006), SI 2006/246, employees retain their existing terms and conditions, except certain rights relating to old age, invalidity or survivors’ benefits under occupational pension schemes, which are excluded from the scope of the automatic transfer principle. For further information, see Practice Note: TUPE—transfer of rights and liabilities—Liabilities in relation to transferring employees. The transfer of rights and liabilities with regard to workforce pension provision on a transfer under TUPE 2006, SI 2006/246 is a complex and involved area of the law, and it may be appropriate to seek specialist pensions law advice. You may wish to consider: • the obligation to provide employee liability information (ELI) • potential liability for failure to

On a relevant transfer under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE 2006), SI 2006/246, transferred employees retain all the rights and obligations existing under their contracts of employment with the previous employer and these are transferred to the new employer. See Practice Note: TUPE—transfer of employees. Information on the effect of TUPE 2006, SI 2006/246 on the ability to vary terms and conditions of employment can be found in Practice Note: TUPE—variation of contract terms. Any purported variation of a contract of employment that is, or will be, transferred under TUPE 2006, SI 2006/246, reg 4(1) is void 'if the sole or principal reason for the variation is the transfer' (TUPE 2006, SI 2006/246,

There is no right under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employees) Regulations 2006 (TUPE 2006), SI 2006/246 to request a declaration that a variation of terms and conditions of employment is void under TUPE 2006, SI 2006/246, reg 4(4). For more information on the variation of contractual terms under TUPE 2006 generally, see Practice Note: TUPE—variation of contract terms. Where the transferee employer varies the terms and conditions of employment, it will need to ensure that it complies with the requirements of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) in relation to the written statement of particulars of employment (see the section ‘Updated written statements of particulars under ERA 1996’ of Practice

When dealing with persistent, intermittent, short term absences, issues to consider at the outset include: • consideration of whether the employer believes the reason for the absence is genuine; if it is not, the real issue may be employee misconduct—see Practice Notes: ◦ Dealing with malingerers ◦ Reason for dismissal—conduct ◦ Managing conduct, and ◦ Dismissing fairly for conduct reasons • whether the employer has a sickness or absence policy/procedure which will need to be followed; if there is such a policy, the employee should be provided with a copy, or given access to it as part of the process. For an example of such a policy, see Precedent: Policy and procedure—sickness and attendance and the related Drafting Notes • the ways in which medical evidence in relation

The EC requirement, which is set out in section 18A(1) of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 (ETA 1996), provides that before a person ('the prospective claimant') presents an application to institute relevant proceedings relating to any matter, the prospective claimant must provide to Acas prescribed information, in the prescribed manner, about that matter. A prospective claimant may, however, institute relevant proceedings without complying with the EC requirement where one of the exemptions to the scheme applies. HMRC v Garau is authority for the following: • the EC requirement applies to all relevant proceedings the prospective claimant has against each prospective respondent. The prospective claimant does not, therefore, have to obtain a separate EC certificate for each 'relevant proceeding': the only requirement is that, where the claimant brings relevant proceedings relating to any matter, they have

For information on balloting requirements generally, see: • the section of Practice Note: Balloting for and employer notification of industrial action entitled Balloting • Commentary: Ballot papers: Harvey on Industrial Relations and Employment Law [2763]–[2784] Under section 229(2D) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULR(C)A 1992), among the information required to be provided on a voting paper in a ballot for industrial action, the voting paper must indicate the period or periods within which the industrial action or, as the case may be, each type of industrial

Initially, the terms of the contract should be checked for any provisions relating to delivery, acceptance, rejection or returns. Terms may be either express or implied: • express terms—are terms which are actually recorded in a written contract or openly expressed in an oral contract at the time the contract is made (or there may be a combination of written and oral express terms) • implied terms—are not stated in the contract but arise ‘by implication’ to reflect the intention of the parties at the time the contract was made. Terms may be implied by fact, law or custom. For guidance on implying terms into contracts, see Practice Notes: ◦ Contract interpretation—terms implied by law ◦ Contract interpretation—terms implied by fact ◦ Contract interpretation—terms implied by custom and usage The remainder of this response assumes that the contract

For information on the right to a statutory redundancy payment generally, see Practice Note: Entitlement to statutory redundancy payment. The statutory scheme set out in sections 138 and 141 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) encourages the employer to offer, and the dismissed employee to accept, new or renewed employment as an alternative to a redundancy dismissal with associated redundancy payment. Assuming that the dismissal is by reason of redundancy: • if the employee's contract of employment is renewed either immediately or within four weeks of the dismissal, then the dismissal is deemed never to have happened. And if there is no dismissal, there is no right to a redundancy payment • if the