Matters of authority

While it is always nice to have clear authority on a point at Court of Appeal, or even House of Lords' level, there are now so many points in modern employment law on which we need authority, that first instance decisions (at common law) or decisions of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) (in statutory matters) that do produce more light than heat are always most helpful, and can assume an importance in practical terms that would not be immediately obvious to a first year law student studying the system of precedent for the first time.

This month's column concerns three such cases: one on the common law on garden leave clauses (in a particularly sensitive context); one on an important point on the timing of statutory holidays; and one on an issue arising under the national minimum wage legislation that has a long history of difficulty under previous wage legislation and which became topical just as the case was being decided.
Garden leave and misconduct

“Absent an express provision