p. 392. Contracts of employment (1): status, formation, continuity, and change
- Ian Smith, Ian Smithof Gray’s Inn, Barrister Emeritus Professor of Employment Law at the University of East Anglia General editor of Harvey on Industrial Relations and Employment Law
- Aaron BakerAaron BakerLate Associate Professor (Reader) in Law at Durham University
- and Owen WarnockOwen WarnockFormer Partner, Eversheds Sutherland, Solicitors Emeritus Professor of Employment Law, University of East Anglia An editor of Harvey on Industrial Relations and Employment Law
Abstract
This chapter discusses the way in which the law has had to keep up with changing models of ‘employment’. Even the old ‘employee/self-employed’ division is now complicated by increasing use in modern statutes of the term ‘worker’. Part-time, fixed-term, and agency workers have featured prominently in modern employment law and consideration is given to these specifically, along with even more topical areas of concern such as zero-hour contracts and the challenges of the ‘gig economy’ more generally. Three more technical areas are then considered. The first concerns the ‘section 1 statement’ of basic terms and conditions that has been an obligation on employers since 1963 but is still not always given. The second concerns the difficult question of the extent to which an employer can seek to impose limitations on an employee even after employment ends. The third concerns the whole question of how the terms of an employment contract can lawfully be changed by one or both of the parties to it.
