![[Basket]](images/basket.png){kind=small}
Your order![[cover image]](images/issue/BK201905.jpg)
The employment contract
[ch 3: page 72]The employment contract sets out the terms and conditions under which work is to be done and paid for. Employees need to know what those terms are and how to enforce them.
Once an employer has offered a job and the employee has accepted it, there will be a legal contract, even if there is nothing in writing. If the offer is later withdrawn, the employee may be able to claim damages for contract breach (Sarker v South Tees Acute Hospitals [1997] IRLR 328). In most cases, damages are limited to the length of notice needed to terminate the contract legally, but if the contract is for a fixed period of time and there is nothing allowing for it to be ended earlier, damages could potentially cover its whole period (Gill and others v Cape Contracts [1985] IRLR 499).
Although a verbal offer and acceptance can be binding, proving it is likely to be difficult. An offer is binding if a reasonable person would infer that the employer intended to be bound by the offer once it was accepted, whether or not this was actually the intention (Wright v Canterbury Christ Church University College [2005] EAT/0428/04/0604). To create a legal contract, there must be an intention to create legal obligations, as the next case demonstrates:
While drinking heavily in a pub, Sports Direct owner Michael Ashley promised his colleague that if the share price reached £8, Ashley would pay him a £10 million bonus. Ruling that this was not a legally enforceable promise, the court highlighted the following factors suggesting that the offer was not intended to be legally binding: the informal location (in a pub), the purpose of the meeting (to socialise), the nature and tone of the exchange, whether the offer made “commercial sense”, the use of vague language and the impressions of others present.
Jeffrey Blue v Michael Ashley [2017] EWHC 1928
Although a verbal offer can be legally binding, not writing it down (even in a follow-up email) can suggest a lack of intention to create legal obligations.
To enforce a contract, you need to know who your employer is. This should be stated in the written statement of employment particulars (see below).