More protection for employees

CONTRACT caterers who fail to consult employees over contract transfers and planned redundancies could face penalty payments, if Government proposals get the green light.

The second consultation paper on employees' rights under Transfers of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations, known as TUPE, suggests that employers should be made to pay employees 90 days' pay if it is found that they have failed to give workers advance warning of their plans.

Guidelines on how to inform employees, such as through trade unions or employee representatives, are already in place, but the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) wants to ensure that employers conform by introducing the penalties.

"The regulations already lay down how this should be done, but the new regulations bolster this and explain more clearly how it should be done," said employment solicitor Ann-Marie Thompson of Eversheds.

The DTI is calling on interested parties to submit comments before 9 April.

For a copy of the doc-ument, call the DTI on: 0171-215-5941.