[ian@huth]

I think that there are a lot of assumptions being made about what will happen regarding these "perks". The thing to do is for someone to ask the question of the people that matter before the changeover takes place. A good old saying that is worth remembering is "if you don't ask , you don't get".

There have been a number of words bandied about in this thread regarding associates benefits, perks, offerings, etc. The consensus of opinion seems to be that if these are not written into the contract of emloyment then they will be lost. The truth of the matter is that a contract of employment does not actually have to be written to be valid and a written contract does not necessarily state the full contract details that exist between the employer and employee.

TUPE looks at protecting employees rights when undertakings are transferred. It basically looks at the situation in the same way that an Industrial Tribunal would look at an unfair dismissal claim. In an unfair dismissal award "perks" are also taken into account when determining the weekly earnings of the claimant. So, if your renumeration included say, slaray, company car, gym membership and private medical insurance, the weekly value of all of these would be totalled to arrive at your weekly pay. It does not matter that not all other employees of the company that you work for don't take advantage of the gym membership because there is no gym near enough to them, it is what you yourself get that is important.

I am with Neil on this subject and would suggest that any employee that is being transferred and thinks that they are likely to lose out on associate benefits should ask for the matter to be clarified ASAP.