Judgment handed down in Mendes v Slater and Gordon (UK) Limited and another

Judgment was handed down in Mendes v Slater and Gordon (UK) Limited and another at County Court in Central London.

A six-year limitation period applies to claims against employers arising out of alleged failure to ensure that certain benefits payable from a pension scheme on compulsory redundancy had transferred pursuant to TUPE.

The claimant was made compulsorily redundant. The pension scheme of the claimant’s employer paid certain benefits calculated only on the basis of service with that employer.  The claimant claimed that the value of those benefits should have reflected rights accrued with previous employers from whom he was transferred because those rights were protected by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (“TUPE”).

When the claimant’s solicitors missed the six-year limitation period and were sued for professional negligence, they alleged that claims against the employer were subject to the 12-year limitation period for trust claims or no limitation period as the claim was a claim on a specialty.  Alternatively, if the limitation period was six years, each alleged under-payment of a pension instalment gave rise to a separate cause of action which started time running.

The court rejected these arguments holding that the claims in contract and tort arose at the date of redundancy when the alleged breach by the employer led to the immediate loss of enhanced benefits calculated by reference to the claimant’s continuous period of employment pursuant to TUPE. Accordingly, the limitation period was six years, both in contract and tort.

The defendant has applied for permission to appeal.

Jonathan Chew appeared for the defendant and Stephen Brown appeared for the proposed second defendant (the claimant’s former employer).

Read the full judgment