LRD guides and handbook September 2013

Contracts of employment - a guide to using the law for union reps

Chapter 5
>

No implied duty to take care of employees’ economic wellbeing

There is no general implied duty to take care of employees’ economic wellbeing. For example, in Crossley v Faithful & Gould Holdings [2004] EWCA Civ 293, a senior employee retired early on grounds of ill health. By retiring he ceased to qualify for benefits under a private health insurance scheme. The Court of Appeal said the employer owed no duty to warn him that retiring would mean losing the benefit. Similarly, there is no implied term that on promotion an employee should be better off (London Underground v Fisher EAT/0104/04).