Outsourcing

[aoa321]

Hi,

i work in a fairly large IT department (20 people) in an indigineous Irish firm. Last Friday we were told that we are to be outsourced - we now as a matter of urgency have to try to find out our rights during this process.

The company have pointed us to a piece of European legislation called TUPE - which to me seems as helpful to them as it to us.

Now the problem is that we are not part of a union so to get an expert on employment law in to inform us is going to cost us big money. Do any of you have any experience of such a process? or is there any government department that can advise us?

Any help or direcvtion on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ajapale]

Hi aoa321,

When you say that you are being outsourced do you mean that you and your colleagues will transfer to a different company in Ireland? Or do you mean that you will be offered redundancy/severance package and that the work will be done by others either here in Ireland or abroad?

If its the former then the TUPE regulations apply (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employees). The releveant government is the Department of Trade and Enterprise.

[broken link removed]

Acquired rights for employees
To the extent that a business is transferring from one company to another, the employees in that business will as a general rule have the right to transfer their employment to the new service provider. This right is enshrined in EU law and the relevant EU Directive was implemented in Ireland by the European Communities (Safeguarding of Employees Rights on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations, 1980 and 2000. The key issues are to determine whether or not a business transfer is taking place and which employees will actually transfer, and it will then be necessary to negotiate appropriate contractual protections for both parties (e.g. in relation to any employment-related claims brought by transferring staff arising before and after the transfer).

 

[aoa321]

There is no redundancy or severance involved - we will be transferring to a company within Ireland (as far as I know)