Mr I was employed on a 3-year contract determinable on notice. The contract was renewed by a 2-year extension, followed by a one-year extension, and a waiver clause was agreed for the latter extension. The statute required the fixed term to be of two years or more for contracting out to be permissible.
Held: Since the contract was determinable on notice, it was not a contract for a fixed period. However (Lord Denning MR): ‘I do not think it necessary in these cases to inquire whether there is a ‘renewal’ of a previous contract of employment or a ‘re-engagement’ under a new contract of employment. That is too fine a distinction for ordinary mortals to comprehend . Suffice it to say that you must always take the final contract which expires, and on the expiration of which he claims redundancy payment or compensation for unfair dismissal. If the final contract is for a fixed term of two years or more, it is permissible for the employee in writing to agree to exclude his rights, so long as he does it before the term expires. If the final contract is for less than two years, as for instance for a fixed term of one year, then he cannot exclude his right. It matters not whether the final contract is a renewal or re-engagement. It is the final contract alone which matters in this regard.’
Judges:
Lord Denning M.R, Stephenson L.J
Citations:
[1975] 1 QB 781, [1975] 2 All ER 999
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – British Broadcasting Corporation v Kelly-Phillips CA 24-Apr-1998
When a one year fixed term employment contract was extended by a period of less than a year, but then not again renewed, there was no unfair dismissal, since the exemption for the original term applied also to any extension. There had been . .
Applied – Open University v Triesman EAT 1978
An employee was employed under a contract for a fixed term of 18 months. 3 months before that period expired she was offered and accepted further employment for 7 months subject to a waiver clause.
Held: The judgments in BBC -v- Ioannou were . .
Wrong – Dixon v BBC CA 1978
The fact that a term of employment is determinable by notice does not preclude the term being a fixed term. . .
Cited – Mulrine v University of Ulster CANI 1993
An employee was employed under a contract of employment for 2 years with a waiver clause. 5 weeks before the end of that period the employer wrote to the employee, extending her contract by nearly 4 months and specifying that all other conditions of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment
Updated: 20 August 2022; Ref: scu.198052