Fixed-term workers: Fixed-term detriment found despite application to other groups

In Coutts & Co plc v Cure; Royal Bank of Scotland v Fraser, the EAT holds:

• In a case where an employer refused to pay a non-contractual bonus to all non-permanent employees, including some fixed-term workers, the tribunal did not err in law by holding that the reason for the less favourable treatment was on the ground of the employees' status as fixed-term workers.
• The date of the act complained of, from which time runs for limitation purposes, was not the date on which the employer announced an intention in principle to make bonus payments, but the date when the employer decided on the details of and date for payment, and its application to relevant categories of employees.
• Determining the date of the act complained of was a matter of fact to be agreed by the tribunal, by looking at the originating application and the evidence adduced before it. In this case, the tribunal had done this and had made findings of fact accordingly. Consequently, its decision could not be challenged as an appeal on a question of law.