Weekly Issue 454

Cost of Trade Union Bill

According to the government’s own impact assessment, the Trade Union Bill will cost trade unions many millions of pounds to implement.

Early Conciliation

The law requires prospective tribunal claimants to go through a process of early conciliation by contacting Acas and being issued with an early conciliation certificate before they can lodge a claim. In Science Warehouse Ltd v Mills, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that claimants do not have to go through the process again when they want to add another claim that relates to an existing one.

Client's Intention

There is a “service provision change” under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) when activities which were being carried out by one contractor are carried out instead by another, unless the client intends the “task” to be short term. In ICTS UK Ltd v Mahdi and ors, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that tribunals can look at events after the transfer to ascertain the client’s intention.