Contracts of employment: No implied right to send senior dealer on garden leave

In the absence of an express contractual term entitling a bookmaker to send the senior dealer in its spread-betting business on garden leave, it was under an obligation to allow him to perform the duties of the post to which it had appointed him in accordance with his contract both during his notice period and before he gave in his notice, holds the Court of Appeal in William Hill Organisation Ltd v Tucker [1998] IRLR 313. The absence of such an obligation would have been contrary to express terms of the contract; the post was specific and unique in substance and form; and the skills necessary to the proper discharge of the employee's duties required frequent exercise.

Mr Tucker was employed by William Hill Organisation Ltd as senior dealer within its subsidiary William Hill Index Ltd, which operates in the field of spread betting.