Contracts of employment: Doctors' hours under attack

An employer's right to require overtime from an employee who is under a contractual obligation to be "on call" for a specified number of hours in excess of his basic working week, is subject to the employer's implied duty to take reasonable care not to injure its employee's health, holds the Court of Appeal in Johnstone v Bloomsbury Health Authority. Furthermore, any express terms in the contract of employment which have the effect of restricting or limiting the scope or ambit of that implied duty, may fall to be considered under the provisions of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.