Contracts of employment

New and updated

• Date:

  4 February 1986

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Contracts of employment: When employee competition is lawful

  In Faccenda Chicken Ltd v Fowler and others the Court of Appeal upholds the High Court's ruling that, in the absence of a restrictive covenant, a company's former employees were free to make use of their knowledge of that company's customers and pricing structure while working for a competitor, thereby enabling them to solicit trade from their former employer's customers.

• Date:

  17 April 1984

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Contracts of employment: Computerisation not change in contract of employment

  The introduction of new technology raises issues of working practices and contractual rights. In Cresswell and others v Board of Inland Revenue, the High Court holds that the computerisation of PAYE did not change the contracts of Inland Revenue staff.

• Date:

  1 January 1984

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Strathclyde Regional Council v Neil

  In Strathclyde Regional Council v Neil [1984] IRLR 11 CS, the Sheriff Court held that a contractual provision for repayment by the employee of the costs incurred is not a penalty and can be enforced, provided the amount relates to the loss suffered by the employer.

• Date:

  8 March 1983

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Continuity of employment: Interval between fixed-term contracts

  One of the grounds on which an interval between two contracts of employment does not break continuity is that the employee is absent from work due to a temporary cessation of work. In a decision that will benefit many teachers and temporary workers, the House of Lords holds in Ford v Warwickshire County Council that it is not relevant that the interval was anticipated and lies between two fixed term contracts. The test in all cases is whether the gap is short In relation to the duration of the two contracts.

• Date:

  1 May 1982

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Mears v Safecar Security Ltd

  In Mears v Safecar Security Ltd [1982] IRLR 183 CA, the Court of Appeal held that, in determining an implied term, regard should be had to all the circumstances, including the way the contract had been operated in the past.

• Date:

  1 April 1982

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Evans v Elemeta Holdings Ltd

  In Evans v Elemeta Holdings Ltd [1982] IRLR 143 EAT, the EAT emphasises that whether it is reasonable to dismiss an employee for refusing to accept a change in contractual terms depends upon whether it was reasonable for the employee to decline the terms. If it was reasonable for the employee to decline those terms, then it is unreasonable for the employer to dismiss the employee for such refusal.

• Date:

  1 November 1981

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Jones v Associated Tunnelling Co Ltd

  In Jones v Associated Tunnelling Co Ltd [1981] IRLR 477 EAT, the EAT held that it would be unreasonable for an employee to be deemed by his or her silence to have accepted a change to his or her working conditions when the change had no immediate effect.

• Date:

  1 August 1980

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Genower v Ealing, Hammersmith & Hounslow Area Health Authority

  In Genower v Ealing, Hammersmith & Hounslow Area Health Authority [1980] IRLR 297 EAT, the EAT held that the attempt by the respondent employers to change the appellant's job duties and place of work following a reorganisation, albeit a breach of contract which justified him in resigning and claiming that he had been dismissed within the meaning of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act, section 55(2)(c), was a dismissal for some other substantial reason and was reasonable in all the circumstances.

• Date:

  31 December 1977

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Ahmad v Inner London Education Authority

  In Ahmad v Inner London Education Authority [1977] ICR 490 CA, the Court of Appeal held that the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion established by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights does not entitle an employee to be absent from work for the purpose of religious worship in breach of contract.

• Date:

  31 December 1970

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Dunk v George Waller and Son

  In Dunk v George Waller and Son [1970] 2 All ER 630 CA, the Court of Appeal held that the purpose of an apprenticeship agreement is for the apprentice to receive training in order to obtain better employment, and if the employer terminates the agreement and deprives the apprentice of the training, the apprentice is entitled to earnings under the agreement for the remainder of the apprenticeship and damages for future loss of earnings and prospects.