(sitting alone)10 Ms N Aden v Represented by Mr G Loughrey Solicitor Ace Cleaning Services — 2019

This preliminary hearing concerned Ms N Aden's unfair dismissal claim and related remedies, advanced on the basis that her cleaning work at Glasgow Sculpture Studios had transferred from ABM to the respondent by way of a TUPE service provision change on or around 5 June 2019. The respondent denied that any relevant transfer had occurred, and the tribunal amended the respondent's designation to The Cleaning Company (West) Limited.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant had cleaned the GSS premises for two weeks in June 2019, that the respondent's cleaning services were fundamentally the same as those previously provided by ABM, and that ABM had not told her to stop working there. It nevertheless found that at the putative transfer date the claimant was working at two premises and spent the majority of her time elsewhere, so there was no organised grouping of employees at GSS with the claimant as its principal purpose and no basis for a split transfer of part of her employment.

Applying the TUPE service provision change provisions in Regulations 3 and 4 and referring to authorities including Moreman, Seawell, Amaryllis, Harland and Costain, the tribunal held that the claimant remained employed by ABM and had not transferred to the respondent. The claim against the respondent was therefore dismissed, and the judge noted only that the claimant might pursue any payment issue against ABM.