The court was asked to consider whether the express incorporation into contracts of employment of the terms of a collective agreement resulted in a particular such term that impacted upon working conditions being individually enforceable by the employee.
Held: It was not. Smith LJ explained that any such right of individual enforcement carried the potential for such disastrous consequences for the employer that it could not have been the intention of the parties to the collective agreement that it was to be so enforceable. It was therefore a term intended to be binding in honour only and so not ‘apt’ to become a term of the employment contract in which it had been expressly incorporated.
Judges:
Ward, Smith, Jackson LJJ
Citations:
[2010] EWCA Civ 1225, [2011] ICR 125, [2011] IRLR 32
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – George v The Ministry of Justice CA 17-Apr-2013
The claimant appealed against rejection of his claim that the respondent had broken his contract of employment as a prison officer by changing the collective agreement for prisons officers. The judge had found that the respective terms were not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment, Contract
Updated: 25 August 2022; Ref: scu.425745