Breach of contract
This week's case of the week, provided by Addleshaw Goddard, covers discretionary bonuses.
This week's case of the week, provided by Lovells, covers restrictive covenants.
In Helmet Integrated Systems Ltd v Tunnard and others [2007] IRLR 126 CA, the Court of Appeal has held that it was not a breach of contract or any fiduciary duties when an employee failed to inform his employer that he was taking preparatory steps to develop a product that was intended, following his resignation, to be marketed in competition with the employer.
In Fraser v HLMAD Ltd [2006] IRLR 687 CA, the Court of Appeal holds that claimants who bring claims for wrongful dismissal in the employment tribunal, where a statutory limit on damages of £25,000 applies, cannot recover losses in excess of this limit in the High Court.
In Horkulak v Cantor Fitzgerald International [2004] IRLR 942 CA, the Court of Appeal held that, even where the employment contract states that payment of a bonus is discretionary, the employer is under an implied duty to exercise that discretion genuinely and rationally, and a wrongfully dismissed employee could recover damages that reflect the bonus payments that he could have expected to receive had he remained in employment.
In Tesco Stores Ltd v Pook the High Court holds that that a secret receipt of payment through fraudulent invoices by a senior employee, as a bribe from a company doing business with his employer, gave rise to a conflict of interest and was tantamount to a secret commission.
In Eastwood and another v Magnox Electric plc; McCabe v Cornwall County Council and others, the House of Lords holds that, in cases where psychiatric injury is alleged to have been caused by acts of the employer committed prior to, and separately from the act of dismissal itself, a cause of action will exist at common law for damages.
In Harper v Virgin Net Ltd the Court of Appeal holds under s.97(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, where an employee is summarily dismissed, that employee's effective date of termination ("EDT") is only extended to the end of the statutory notice period to which he or she would have been entitled, and not to the end of their contractual notice period.
In Crossley v Faithful & Gould Holdings Ltd the Court of Appeal holds that there is no implied contractual obligation for an employer to take reasonable care for its employees' economic wellbeing.
In Whitely v Marton Electrical Ltd [2003] IRLR 197 EAT, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the dismissal of a modern apprentice before the completion of his training was a breach of contract.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to breach of contract.