Purported transfer of employee to another employer ineffective without consent…

The Employment Relations Authority has upheld a claim for unpaid wages, and holiday pay brought by an employee against her employer.

The employee was employed by a company from May 2022.  In May 2023 that company’s name was changed and a new company was established with exactly the same name as the old employer.

In August 2024, the employee was given notice of termination due to redundancy. The new company was then placed in receivership.

At no time was the employee told that her employment had been transferred from the original employer to the new employer with the same name and the new employer continued to use the same bank account as the original employer.

The ERA held that the employee was never given any notice of the transfer and did not consent to the transfer. Therefore, the employer remained the original company and the original company was therefore liable for her unpaid wages and holiday pay.

If the new employer had sought and obtained consent from the employee to transfer her employment at the time, then the transfer would have been effective, so it pays to follow the correct processes when rearranging employment structures.

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