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18 March 2010 / Sam Burnett
Issue: 7409 / Categories: Features , LexisPSL
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A unilateral right?

Bateman highlights the broad rights of employers to alter terms & conditions unilaterally, says Sam Burnett

It is frequently the case that an employee will be issued with a relatively short statement of terms and conditions of employment, but also provided with a much more voluminous staff handbook. The contents of that handbook will often be very mixed:
• some of it will be very specific, concrete terms on subjects like entitlement to annual leave, parental leave, or sick pay
• some of it may consist of much vaguer material, such as broad policy documents, or even aspirational statements of corporate aims and goals

A question that often arises in this context is whether or not a particular part of the handbook is contractually enforceable. If the employer does wish the handbook (or sections of it) to have contractual force, it is advisable to have a term in the contract of employment which refers to the handbook, and expressly states which parts form part of the contract (Peninsula v Sweeney [2004] IRLR 49).

An employer has the

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After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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