Vol. 468 No. 2
162 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment whether EU protection of employment provisions apply to employees currently working on air-sea rescue services in the event of a new company winning the contract. [14912/96]
The European Communities (Safeguarding of Employees Rights on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations, 1980 implement EC Directive 77/187 aimed at safeguarding the rights of employees in the event of the transfer of an undertaking, business or part of a business from one employer to another employer as a result of a legal transfer or merger. The directive and the regulations provide that, where such a transfer takes place, the rights and obligations arising from an employment contract or relationship existing on the date of the transfer are transferred from the original employer to the new employer.
Arising from disputes which have arisen over the years in different member states of the European Community as to whether the directive applies in certain situations, the European Court of Justice has issued a number of judgements relating to the directive which have widened the concept of a transfer of an undertaking to include, in certain instances, the contracting out of services.
If the employees of the company currently providing the services are not retained by the new company taking over the contract, it would be open to those employees to bring a case for unfair dismissal to a Rights Commissioner or the Employment Appeals Tribunal, provided they fulfil the eligibility criteria under the unfair dismissals legislation. In the past, the tribunal has heard a number of cases involving the application of the regulations in the context of the unfair dismissals legislation. In one case, the tribunal found that the regulations applied where a company was successful in tendering for (contract) work which had previously been carried out by another company.
