Dismissals and business transfers

It is automatically unfair to dismiss an employee where the sole or main reason for the dismissal is a business transfer or service provision change and there is no Economic, Technical or Organisational (ETO) reason for the dismissal entailing changes in the workforce (regulation 7, Transfer of Undertakings Regulations 2006 (TUPE)). Unlike most automatically unfair dismissals, two years’ service is needed (one year in Northern Ireland). See Chapter 12: TUPE protection against unfair dismissal for more information.