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Employment law changes affecting outsourced staff would bring in deluge of litigation says experts (5 March 2013)

Date: 05/03/2013
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Employment law changes affecting outsourced staff would bring in deluge of litigation says experts

According to employment law expert’s government was unintentionally risking a wave of litigation by changing the employment regulations concerning outsourced staff.

A consultation is currently on which seeks changes to TUPE the law that protects employees from unfair dismissal, cuts in pays or changes in terms and conditions of employment if the management of the business in which they are employed changes hands.

These protections were cited by some employers as excessive which made it difficult for them to restructure contractor teams or improve the performance of the contract staff.

The employment law lawyers say that these concerns may have prompted the Government to open a consultation on removing the specific protection from outsourced staff as part of its relaxation of red tape bureaucracy.

The consultation aims to reduce the cost and red tape for businesses that outsource services.

However, the lawyers say that the proposed changes would actually create uncertainty over whether such changes in contractor are caught by TUPE at all.

It claims this would leave employers in the dark over whether these workers are protected by the law or not, increasing the likelihood of litigation between businesses and outsourced employees over the matter.

Partner at a law firm in commercial law says that currently, re-tendering an outsourced contract can effectively result in a business getting the same staff working in a different uniform, so that the quality of service and most of the costs stay exactly the same.

Many businesses say that the law goes too far and give businesses no leeway for further improvements in performance and efficiency even if they changed the contractors.

Though it had to be changed the proposals put forward by the government was not going to solve the problem instead would created a bigger one instead he added.

The proposed law did not seem to be clear on whether the businesses could freely restructure their contractor staff or not, and such legal uncertainty would lead to a wave of litigation over the issue.

If laws were clear and certain the businesses would benefit knowing where their legal responsibilities lies concerning outsourced staff.

The experts said that outsourced staff was present in huge numbers in pubic sector functions which were highly unionised and would draw the unions into the legal battles as they would see it as an attack on workers rights.

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