Employment Law Issues at News of the World | Employment Law Advocates

There has been a lot of discussion in the papers about what might happen if the employees of the News of the World are eventually dismissed on the grounds of redundancy (it has not happened yet – they are all on gardening leave for 90 days – which is the amount of time required to carry out a collective redundancy consultation and consider alternative employment). Some of it is questionable.

According to one opinion quoted in the Evening Standard, “it is apparently not a genuine redundancy situation but an attempt to make an organisation disappear at a time when senior management figures such as James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks are suspected of serious corruption”, which is a very strange conclusion to reach. The test of whether or not there is a redundancy situation is simply one of whether the number of employees needed has decreased. It does not matter why the number has decreased and it is certainly not a matter for a tribunal to question the validity of a business decision leading to redundancies.

Of course, if the News of the World were to be replaced by the Sun on Sunday as soon as 7th August, as has been suggested, then there has been a lot of speculation that TUPE would apply (for example, on this law firm website). I am not sure that this is correct. The News of the World and the Sun newspapers are both News International publications and News International is a single limited company. There cannot be a TUPE transfer from one company to itself and I cannot see a tribunal being willing to pierce the corporate veil in this instance.

However, the fact that both newspapers are published by the same company does impact on the question of whether the need for employees has decreased. If, at the time when the News of the World was shut down, it was already known that the Sun on Sunday would shortly appear, it would become difficult to argue that there had ever really been a decrease in the need for employees. If so, all the staff currently being consulted about redundancy would have to be allowed to keep their jobs or else News International will face unfair dismissal claims.