Implied Terms In Employment Law

ESSAY TOPIC:

'The courts have been able to exercise a powerful influence over the content of the employment contract by the use of implied terms.'

Critically assess the validity of this statement in the light of recent case law.

Contents:

INTRODUCTION:

Implied terms are terms which are contractually enforceable to be a part of the employment contract. Implied terms can be implied by fact, by statute, by custom and by common law. These terms are not necessary to be written in the contract to be enforced. When there is no express term on a particular point of the employment contract then the Implied term of fact is used to fill the gap. The court will imply a term in a contract only if it is absolutely necessary to do so or else it is assumed that the employer and the employee have agreed to the term which has been discussed.

To ensure that the matters are not left to the court to decide employees should ensure that all important matters are dealt with the employment of contract by witting it in the contract so as to avoid future differences between the employees and the employer. Courts have held that employees are under legal duties to obey the contract and be faithful and provide with the skills to the employer.

If contract of employment are to be treated as are other contracts, then there are conventional requirements to be satisfied before any term can be introduced by implication where the implication is not deriving from custom and is not implied by operation of law. Those conventional requirements are that the term must be reasonable and equitable, it must be necessary to make...

... middle of paper ...

... from the Powell and London Borough of Brent that the implied term protect the status whereas it also plays a vital role in protecting the job (job security) in the Anderson v Pringle case. The court of appeal applied same principle of protecting job in the case of French and Barclays Bank Plc.

Mr French was meant to relocate from one branch to another in the county. But for this he had to sell his old house, due to some circumstance he had sell it in lower price than what was anticipated. It was mentioned in the staff manual that employees would get interest free Bridging loans to purchase new house before selling of their old house, but later the bank withdrew the sanctioned loan and changed the policy which in turn breached the contract. The breach of implied term acted in order to destroy the mutual trust and confidence relation between the employer and him.