Mach Recruitment Limited v Oliviera AA25 EAT107

There can be a service provision change relating to temporary work agencies

The Facts

Mrs Oliviera was employed by a temporary work agency G-Staff to supply work to one of its clients called Butcher’s.  Mrs Oliviera changed her temporary agency to a new agency Mach.  Mach then started providing the same services to Butcher’s under a Service Agreement.  The Employment Tribunal held that when Mrs Olivera worked for G-Staff there was an organised group of employees whose principal purpose was to provide services to Butcher’s.  The subsequent cessation of those activities provided by G-Staff and the taking over of those activities by Mach amounted to a service provision change for the purposes of TUPE.  This decision was referred to the EAT who dismissed the appeal. One of the principal factors may have been Mach failure at the Employment Tribunal to provide any evidence as to why there was no organised group of employees.

Lessons to be learnt

If you are a temporary work agency or you make use of temporary work agencies to provide services to you then you may find that employees of one temporary work agency will transfer to the new temporary work agency because they principally provide services to one organisation.  If the organisations wish is to get rid of the people who provide services to them from one temporary work agency and then use another temporary work agency they may find that those employees have actually transferred to the new temporary work agency and therefore the same employees are working for them.

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