Duty of trust and confidence: Demotion did not breach implied term of trust and confidence

The EAT holds in Hilton v Shiner Ltd 4.4.01 EAT 9/00 that an employment tribunal had erred in holding, without giving reasons, that there was no fundamental change in an employee's contract in circumstances where the employee had been demoted from a position which included serving customers and the handling of money to one in which he was not allowed to do either. However, the employer's conduct in so doing did not amount to a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence because it had maintained sufficient confidence in him to wish to continue to employ him in circumstances where it had fully justified suspicions of dishonesty and the alternative to retention in employment was dismissal.