In Parker Steel v. Tuite and others, heard in the High Court over two days, Lucy Bone appeared for ex-employees and their new employer. The transferee claimant sought to enforce restrictive covenants contained in the employment contract made with the transferor. The employees relied on Regulation 4(8) of TUPE, to argue that the employment contract was terminated and the restrictive covenants no longer enforceable. The court held that the restrictive covenants survived the objections to the transfer such that the benefit of the covenants was capable of being assigned to the transferee.
However, the claimant’s application was dismissed as the non-compete covenant was too wide, and in relation to the other covenants, the balance of convenience lay with the defendants.
Full comment to follow.
Lucy Bone was instructed by Walker Morris.
