1964_EMPLOYMENT_ORDINANCE — Page 36

1988 Ed.]

Employment

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(b) no account shall be taken of that substitution in determining whether

the refusal of the offer was unreasonable.

(5) This section shall have effect (subject to the necessary modifications) in relation to a case where--

(a) the person by whom a business, or part of a business, is owned immediately before a change is one of the persons by whom (whether as partners, trustees or otherwise) it is owned immediately after the change; or

(b) the persons by whom a business, or part of a business, is owned immediately before a change (whether as partners, trustees or other- wise) include the person or one or more of the persons by whom it is owned immediately after the change,

as this section has effect where the previous owner and the new owner are wholly different persons.

(6) Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring any variation of a contract of employment by agreement between the parties to be treated as constituting a termination of the contract.

[cf. U.K. 1965 c. 62, s. 13]

Associated companies

31K. (1) Where the employer is a company, any reference in this Part to re-engagement by the employer shall be construed as a reference to re-engage- ment by that company or by any associated company, and any reference in this Part to an offer made by the employer shall be construed as including a reference to an offer made by an associated company.

(2) Subsection (1) shall not affect the operation of section 31J in a case where the previous owner and the new owner (as defined by that section) are associated companies; and where that section applies, subsection (1) shall not apply.

(3) Where an employee is dismissed by his employer, and the employer is a company (in this subsection referred to as "the employing company”) which has one or more associated companies, then if-

(a) none of the conditions specified in section 31B(2) is fulfilled;

(b) one or other of those conditions would be fulfilled if the business of the employing company and the business of the associated company (or, if more than one, each of the associated companies) were treated as together constituting one business,

that condition shall for the purposes of this Part be taken to be fulfilled in relation to the dismissal of the employee.

(4) Where an employee of a company is taken into the employment of another company which, at the time when he is taken into its employment, is an associated company of the first-mentioned company, his period of employment at that time shall count as a period of employment with the associated company, and the change of employer shall not break the continuity of the period of employment.