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Contracts of employment

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  • Date:
    1 January 1996
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Alliance Paper Group Plc v Prestwich [1996] IRLR 25 HC

    In Alliance Paper Group Plc v Prestwich [1996] IRLR 25 HC, the High Court held that the employer was entitled to enforce a covenant restraining the employee from poaching staff who had been employed by the employer "in a senior capacity".

  • Date:
    1 December 1995
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Contracts of employment: Failure to provide grievance procedure is breach of contract

    It is an implied term of every employee's contract of employment that their employer will reasonably and promptly afford them a reasonable opportunity to obtain redress of any grievance they may have, holds the EAT in WA Goold (Pearmak) Ltd v McConnell and another.

  • Date:
    1 September 1995
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Contracts of employment: "Annualised hours" contract contained implied term on overtime pay

    In Ali and others v Christian Salvesen Food Services plc the EAT holds that a contract of employment, which provided that overtime payments would be made only when the employee had worked more than the annualised hours total of 1,824 hours in the working year, contained an implied term entitling the employee, whose employment terminated several months before the end of the working year, to overtime payments in certain circumstances.

  • Date:
    1 February 1995
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Redundancy: Relocation clause defeats redundancy claim

    An employee who agreed to relocate but later decided not to move was not dismissed by reason of redundancy, but rather because of his intention not to comply with the relocation clause in his contract, holds the EAT in Richardson and another v Applied Imaging International Ltd.

  • Date:
    1 January 1995
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Contracts of employment: Lavish customer connection justifies "garden leave"

    A lavish and expensive customer connection which has been developed by an employee at his employer's expense is part of the latter's goodwill, and is something which it is entitled to protect, holds the High Court in Euro Brokers Ltd v Rabey.

  • Date:
    1 July 1994
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Reorganisation: Tribunal takes wrong approach on business reorganisation

    An industrial tribunal's decision that an employee could reasonably refuse a proposed detrimental variation in contractual terms because it was not based on sound business reasons vital for the company's survival was wrong, holds the EAT in Catamaran Cruisers Ltd v Williams and others.

  • Date:
    1 March 1993
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Contracts of employment: Employer's attempt to withdraw enhanced redundancy scheme fails

    An employer had no right to withdraw unilaterally its employees' contractual entitlement to enhanced redundancy payments, holds the High Court in Lee and others v GEC Plessey Telecommunications.

  • Date:
    1 March 1993
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Contracts of employment: Right to suspend must be exercised reasonably

    There is no general contractual obligation on an employer to act reasonably or fairly, holds the High Court in McClory & others v The Post Office. In relation to an express power to suspend an employee, however, there is an implied term that an employer will not exercise that right on unreasonable grounds.

  • Date:
    15 January 1992
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Contracts of employment: Employer obliged to notify employees of contingent rights

    In some circumstances, an employer is under an implied obligation to notify its employees of any rights which they have under their contracts of employment which are dependent upon them taking some sort of action, rules the House of Lords in Scally and others v Southern Health and Social Services Board and others.

  • Date:
    18 October 1991
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Contracts of employment: Implied terms depend on necessity not reasonableness

    The EAT emphasises in White v Reflecting Roadstuds Ltd that a restriction on an employer's powers under a flexibility clause should be implied only if it is necessary to make the contract workable, not merely because it would be reasonable to imply such a term.

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HR and legal information and guidance relating to contracts of employment.