Tesco Supreme Court Ruling on 'Fire and Rehire'
The UK Supreme Court ruled that Tesco's 'fire and rehire' policy is unlawful, preventing the retailer from terminating employees' contracts to reduce their pay. The ruling restores an injunction that protects warehouse workers' pay entitlements.
| Score | Value |
|---|---|
Scale | 7 |
Novelty | 5 |
Positivity | 6 |
Reliability | 8 |
Actionability | 3 |
Society | 8 |
Journalism | 4 |
Highlights
- The UK Supreme Court ruled that Tesco cannot use 'fire and rehire' tactics to terminate employees' contracts and rehire them on less favorable terms.
- The ruling restored an injunction that prevents Tesco from dismissing warehouse workers and offering them new contracts.
- Tesco is the largest supermarket group in Britain with a grocery market share of nearly 28% and employs about 270,000 workers.
- The legal action was initiated by the shopworkers' union Usdaw after Tesco proposed to remove increased pay entitlements from some warehouse workers.
- This ruling marks a second legal setback for UK grocers regarding workers' rights in a month.
Perspectives
- The Usdaw union expressed satisfaction with the Supreme Court's ruling, viewing it as a significant win for workers' rights and a rejection of unfair employment practices. [1]
- Tesco accepted the Supreme Court's decision but emphasized that the ruling affects a small number of employees and that the majority of distribution center workers do not receive the disputed pay top-up. [1]