Changes to contract through statute

Provisions that are contained in legislation, for example minimum rights to holiday or rest periods under the Working Time Regulations, are incorporated into individual contracts of employment. If regulations change, or a new law is passed, it can change an employee’s contract of employment.

Changes imposed through European Directive can be enforced directly by public sector workers, such as employees of NHS trusts, local authorities, police authorities and most kinds of school, through a process known as direct effect, as long as the terms of the change are precise. In the case of private sector employees, tribunals are supposed to interpret national laws deriving from European Directive by doing their best to give effect to the European objective of protecting the interests of workers, even going as far as to add or remove words in domestic laws to achieve this where necessary (Attridge LLP v Coleman (No 2) [2010] ICR 242, USDAW v Woolworths (in administration) [2013] UKEAT/0547/12/KN).