ABSTRACT
The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations, implementing EU Directives, go much further, and may protect an employee from changes to his contractual terms and conditions. The 1977 Directive provided: Article 3 The transferor's rights and obligations arising from a contract of employment or from an employment relationship existing on the date of a transfer shall, by reason of such transfer, be transferred to the transferee. The 977 Directive and the original UK TUPE Regulations only applied to transfers of 'commercial undertakings'. The 1981 Regulations 3 defined a transfer covered by the Regulations: 'The Regulations apply to a transfer from one person to another of an undertaking situated immediately before the transfer in the United Kingdom, or a part of one which is so situated'. The 2006 Regulations give an entirely different definition of 'relevant transfer', designed not only to cover the transfer of an entire business or an identifiable part of a business.
