Fitzgerald v Hall Russell and Co Ltd: HL 21 Oct 1969

The House considered whether a series of short employment contracts amounted to one continuing one.
Held: In deciding whether in the case of employment under a series of short contracts the intervals between the contracts amount to temporary cessation of work, one must look back from the date of termination of the employment over the whole period during which the employee has been employed.
Lord Upjohn explained that one should look at the cessations of work with hindsight, that is with knowledge of all that has happened, and then decide whether in all the circumstances of the case the cessations can properly be described as temporary. He said that each case must depend upon its own particular circumstances and that common sense must provide the answer.
Lord Morris said that one can take account of what the parties expected at the relevant time: ‘If in reference to the time when a cessation of work begins there is evidence showing that both the employer and the employee expected and anticipated that the cessation would only be for a relatively short time, that would be very relevant evidence in considering at a later time whether there had been a temporary cessation of work . . All relevant evidence and all relevant factors will have to be taken into account.’

Judges:

Lord Reid, Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest, Lord Guest, Lord Upjohn, Lord Wilberforce

Citations:

[1969] UKHL 7, [1970] AC 984, [1969] 3 WLR 868, [1969] 3 All ER 1140

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Employment

Updated: 09 July 2022; Ref: scu.248582