The Tribunal dealt with the question that arose when an Industrial Tribunal had considered The EAT was asked whether it was reasonable for an employee to decline the new terms of a contract. The Tribunal’s judgment had said: ‘If it was reasonable for him to decline these terms then obviously it would have been unreasonable for the employers to dismiss him for such refusal.’
Held: That was a wrong approach. Balcombe J stated: ‘We must respectfully disagree with that conclusion. It may be perfectly reasonable for an employee to decline to work extra overtime having regard for his family commitments, yet from the employer’s point of view having regard to his business commitments, it may be perfectly reasonable to require an employee to work overtime. . . We agree with the comment . . in Harvey . . ‘it does not follow that if one party is acting reasonably the other is acting unreasonably.’
Judges:
Balcombe J
Citations:
[1983] IRLR 311
Statutes:
Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 57(1)
Cited by:
Cited – St John of God (Care Services) Ltd v Brooks and others EAT 8-Apr-1992
The appellant had suffered a reduction in its income. It made an offer to staff, on the point of dismissing for refusal to sign, of less favourable terms, including reduced pay and holiday entitlement and the abolition of overtime rates for weekend . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment
Updated: 02 May 2022; Ref: scu.374119
