Workplace Report March 2010

Law - Contracts

Contracts - the key developments

• In certain circumstances, office-holders can also be employees; it is also possible to be employed by two different employers simultaneously, provided the employment is not incompatible (case 1).

• Employees must give credit against unfair dismissal compensation for sums earned during their notice period if they were constructively – as opposed to actually – dismissed by their employer (case 2).

• Workers may lose their right to take all of their statutory holiday within the leave year if they request it towards the end of the leave year at a time when it may not fit in with the staffing patterns of the business (case 3).

• If worded sufficiently clearly, a contractual provision may allow an employer to vary its own contractual obligations without the employee’s consent (case 4).

Case details are available at www.employmentappeals.gov.uk (EAT) and www.bailii.org (Court of Appeal).

Call 020 8686 9141 for details of the journal Industrial Relations Law Reports (IRLR).