- MS J LINFORD (COUNSEL) FOR THE v Ms S Younis (Solicitor) — 2023

The tribunal found that there was a TUPE transfer of the business being operated from 10 The Street, Bibury. It accepted that the respondent sold the freehold of the premises on 4 August 2022, together with the shop stock for about £12,000, and that the business continued after a short interruption. Applying the Spijkers and Cheesman factors, the tribunal concluded that the economic entity retained its identity even though the Post Office part of the operation did not immediately reopen.

The tribunal found that the claimant had indicated before the transfer that she intended to transfer, and held that her employment therefore transferred to the transferee under TUPE. It treated 4 August 2022 as the transfer date, or alternatively 12 August 2022 if that were wrong. On that basis, the tribunal held that any liability arising from the claimant's dismissal, wrongful dismissal claim, and redundancy payment claim passed to the transferee.

In relation to the dismissal itself, the tribunal said the message sent by Ms Taylor showed that the claimant was dismissed for a reason connected with the transfer, and that the dismissal would have been automatically unfair under regulation 7(1)(a) in the absence of an ETO defence. However, because liability had transferred with the employment, the claimant's claims against the respondent were dismissed. The bonus payment mentioned in the evidence was not pursued as a separate claim.