Fragmentation justifies more detailed data request
[ch 4: pages 20-21]Where circumstances justify it, employees can get the CAC’s backing for a data request that goes beyond the bare number of employees, which can pave the way for a successful ICE application.
In 2005, in the first of two CAC appearances by Macmillan Publishers, Amicus (now part of Unite) complained that data it had been provided with was “false or incomplete in a material particular” (regulation 6(1)(b)). Being consistent with the regulations, it asked for the “average number of employees employed within the undertaking in the UK over the past twelve months and to ascertain which sites, establishments or plants are considered to be part of the undertaking”.
After being prompted by the CAC, the company said it employed 1,350 staff in the UK including 118 part timers. It did not respond to a further request for a breakdown of sites and locations, and how part-timers would be counted, as it did not believe the regulations required a breakdown site-by-site.
The union justified its request by pointing to the fragmented structure of the company and uncertainty about its locations. The complaint was judged to be well-founded and the CAC ordered it to disclose the establishments, sites and/or plants that it considered to make up the undertaking, and the number of employees within each.
Macmillan Publishers 29 November 2005 IC/4/(2005)