The Railway Pensions (Protection and Designation of Schemes) Order 1994

Circumstances in which breaks in continuity of employment are disregarded

9.—(1) For the purposes of articles 3 to 8, and for all other purposes of paragraph 6 (the powers of protection) of Schedule 11, there shall be disregarded, except to the extent specified in paragraph (3)—

(a)any break in the continuity of employment of a person who has re–entered relevant employment pursuant to a statutory or contractual right to return to relevant employment which existed before that break;

(b)any period which falls between the ceasing of employment with one former employer who was participating in the joint industry scheme and the entering into employment with an associated employer of that former employer who is also participating in that scheme, where that period would have been disregarded in determining continuity of employment of the person in question if it had occurred whilst that person was employed by the same employer or an employer who is an associated employer of that employer; or

(c)any period which falls between the ceasing of employment with one employer who is engaged in the railway industry and the beginning of a further period of employment with another employer who is engaged in that industry which—

(i)would have been disregarded in determining continuity of employment of the person in question if it had occurred whilst that person was employed by the same employer or an associated employer of that employer;

(ii)begins after the passing of the Act; and

(iii)ends no later than 1st October 1994;

and for the purposes of this sub–paragraph “engaged in the railway industry” shall be construed in accordance with paragraph 8(7) (employers who are to be regarded as engaged in the railway industry) of Schedule 11 and article 11(4) (which specifies activities for the purposes of that paragraph).

(2) For the purposes mentioned in paragraph (1) there shall also be disregarded, except to the extent specified in paragraph (3), any break in the continuity of employment of a person where—

(a)he has been in relevant employment as an employee of one employer;

(b)he is taken into relevant employment as an employee of another employer;

(c)he has not initiated that change of employment nor has he actively sought to be taken into the employment of that other employer; and

(d)the employer mentioned in sub–paragraph (a) is an associated employer of the employer mentioned in sub–paragraph (b).

(3) Where a break in the continuity of employment is disregarded under this article, the period during which the person in question was not in relevant employment shall not be included as part of that period of that employment.