This chapter first discusses the role played by implied terms of the employment contract. It then turns to the implied terms which impose obligations on the employer. These include the duty to provide work, pay wages, exercise reasonable care for the physical and psychiatric well-being of the employee; the implied term of mutual trust and confidence; and the discretionary benefit implied term and anti-avoidance implied term. The final section covers the implied terms imposing duties on employees. These include the duty to work and obey instructions and orders; the duty to adapt, exercise care, and co-operate; the duty of mutual trust and confidence; and the duty of loyalty, fidelity, and confidence.
Chapter
6. The Implied Terms of the Personal Employment Contract
Chapter
7. The Variation and Suspension of the Personal Employment Contract
This chapter first examines the common law rules regulating the variation of the terms of the contract of employment. It focuses on the situation where the employer seeks to unilaterally modify the terms of the employment contract, for instance in light of modern pressures on management to demand greater labour flexibility in order to adapt to changing market conditions. The chapter then moves on to address the ability of the employer to suspend the contract of employment, for instance where the employer suffers a downturn in demand for its products or services, or where an employee may be subject to disciplinary proceedings. Finally, it considers the future trajectory of the common law content of the personal contract of employment.
Chapter
3. Express and implied terms
The Q&A series offer the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, bullet-pointed answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary, and illustrative diagrams and flowcharts. This chapter presents sample exam questions about express and implied terms. Through a mixture of problem questions and essays, students are guided through some of the key issues on the topic of express and implied terms including the different sources of employment law, when terms of collective agreements may be incorporated into the contract of employment, the rules regarding custom and practice, and discussion of important implied terms such as the implied term of trust and confidence. Students are also introduced to the current key debates in the area and provided with suggestions for additional reading for those who want to take things further.
Chapter
3. Contracts of employment (2): content and wages
Ian Smith, Owen Warnock, and Gemma Mitchell
This chapter explores where express terms come from, especially if they are not all neatly set out in writing, and then goes on to consider how terms become implied. Here, several significant differences between ordinary commercial contracts and employment contracts will be seen, both in the scale of the use of implied terms in employment law to ‘perfect’ the bargain and in the sheer strength of some of these frequently implied terms that can, in practice, be just as important as express terms. Having looked at where these terms come from, the chapter goes on to consider the principal duties that they impose on employers and employees, some of which are old and obvious, such as the employer’s duty to pay wages and the employee’s duty of obedience to lawful orders. On the other hand, some are more recent and more at the cutting edge of modern employment law, such as the implied term of trust and confidence for the employee and the topical controversies over confidentiality at work in an age of electronic communication and social media. The chapter concludes by considering specifically the law on wages, including the statutory requirements of paying the national minimum wage and the national living wage.
Chapter
8. Implied terms
This chapter looks at the terms which are implied into contracts of employment. Implied terms are those that are deemed to be present by a court despite never having been explicitly agreed or even discussed by the employer or employee. The chapter begins by setting out the different types of implied term, differentiating these from other types of terms, before going on to explore the major implied terms and their significance. It focuses in particular on the duty to maintain a relationship of mutual trust and confidence as this is the area in which the most significant legal developments have occurred. It then considers situations in which implied terms conflict with express terms, before discussing procedural issues in breach of contract cases.
Chapter
3. The Formation of a Contract of Employment
This chapter discusses how an employment contract is formed, and it then looks at the terms and conditions of employment and how these terms are to be interpreted. The types of terms discussed include express terms, implied terms, statutory terms, collective agreements and how such collective terms are incorporated, and looks at custom as a source of employment terms and works and staff rules. The chapter also considers other aspects of the contract of employment such as disciplinary and grievance procedures, job descriptions, written particulars of the contract of employment, the right to itemised pay statements, variation of contractual terms, and an overview of occupational pension schemes.
Chapter
2. Contracts of employment
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses employment contracts. Covenants potentially in restraint of trade are express written terms which may apply during the contract, but are usually expressed to apply after termination. They are a rare illustration of contractual terms, which must be in writing. The general purpose of these is to prevent a former employee competing against his former employers; for example, by taking commercially confidential information or influencing customers to give their business to the firm he has joined. The Supreme Court has recently ruled on the width of the doctrine of severance of such covenants. Topics covered include the provision of the written statement, a right which employees have enjoyed since 1963, but which was extended to workers in 2020; the sources of terms in employment contracts; duties of the employer; and duties of the employee. These duties or implied terms are divided into terms implied in law (ie inserted into every contract of employment) and terms implied in fact (ie inserted into a particular contract of employment). The latter are divided into terms implied in fact which work against the employers’ interests and terms which work against the employees’ interests. Examples of the former include the duty to pay wages; examples of the latter include the duty to obey reasonable orders.
