In a landmark ruling, the European Court of Justice has clarified EU laws

Date: 13/03/1997

regarding the protection of workers. It ruled the loss of a service contract by one company to a competitor did not necessarily constitute a 'transfer of undertakings'. Consequently, anyone employed as part of that contract was not automatically covered by rules, dating back to 1977, which state that employees pay and conditions should not suffer in the event of a company takeover. The case was brought by German cleaning woman Ayse Süzen, who was sacked when her employer lost a contract to clean a school. She claimed unfair dismissal and argued she should have had the right to be re-employed on the same terms by the company taking over the contract.