In person For the v Ms S Tombazidou-Crawford — 2022

The claimant worked at Ivory Dental Clinic, a dental practice run by Ms Sofia Tombazidou-Crawford and Ms Teuta Bicaku. The tribunal found that the practice employed fewer than 10 people and had no employee or union representative, so Regulation 13A TUPE applied. The practice was sold to Dental Beauty, but the tribunal found that the respondents had not finally decided to sell until the weekend before 8 March 2021, when the deal was then progressed to completion on 9 March 2021.

The tribunal accepted the respondents' evidence that staff were informed on 9 March 2021, before completion later that day, about the sale, the reasons for it, the identity of the purchaser, and the fact that the business would transfer to Dental Beauty. It found there was no earlier point at which the respondents could have given a definite transfer date, because the decision to sell had only been taken immediately beforehand and the sale was completed on 9 March 2021.

The claimant's case was that she had not been informed or consulted until after the transfer. The tribunal rejected her evidence that the relevant meeting took place on 10 March 2021. It relied on the contemporaneous documents, including the P45 showing a leaving date of 9 March 2021, the email confirming completion on 9 March 2021, and the solicitor's email recording that the agreement had been entered into on 9 March 2021. On that basis, the tribunal found the claimant and colleagues were informed in time and that the respondents had complied with Regulation 13A TUPE.

Because the tribunal found there was no breach of the TUPE information and consultation obligations, the claim was held not well-founded and was dismissed. No compensation was awarded.