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Implied terms and human rights in the contract of employment

Implied terms and human rights in the contract of employment
Implied terms and human rights in the contract of employment
This article considers the potential for implied terms in the contract of employment to protect employees’ human rights. The slim prospects of legislative action in this area make it important to consider common law means of protecting human rights at work. Part 2 begins by setting out the function of implied terms in the contract of employment and the various ways human rights can affect the legal regulation of the employment relationship. Part 3 considers the extent to which the implied term of trust and confidence can protect employees’ human rights. While there are numerous points of overlap between trust and confidence and human rights, both the scope of the implied term and the level of protection it provides mean that it is currently an inadequate mechanism for protecting human rights at work. Part 4 then assesses the prospects of a new human rights term being implied into the contract of employment using the existing tests for terms implied ‘in fact’ and ‘in law’, and develops a prima facie case in favour of implying a human rights protective term into all employment contracts as a default rule.
0305-9332
515-548
Atkinson, Joe
344fb3a5-85d2-489a-86ef-d657bcb857bc
Atkinson, Joe
344fb3a5-85d2-489a-86ef-d657bcb857bc

Atkinson, Joe (2019) Implied terms and human rights in the contract of employment. Industrial Law Journal, 48 (4), 515-548. (doi:10.1093/indlaw/dwz001).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article considers the potential for implied terms in the contract of employment to protect employees’ human rights. The slim prospects of legislative action in this area make it important to consider common law means of protecting human rights at work. Part 2 begins by setting out the function of implied terms in the contract of employment and the various ways human rights can affect the legal regulation of the employment relationship. Part 3 considers the extent to which the implied term of trust and confidence can protect employees’ human rights. While there are numerous points of overlap between trust and confidence and human rights, both the scope of the implied term and the level of protection it provides mean that it is currently an inadequate mechanism for protecting human rights at work. Part 4 then assesses the prospects of a new human rights term being implied into the contract of employment using the existing tests for terms implied ‘in fact’ and ‘in law’, and develops a prima facie case in favour of implying a human rights protective term into all employment contracts as a default rule.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 8 January 2019
Published date: 21 February 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 484301
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/484301
ISSN: 0305-9332
PURE UUID: da1c8488-3325-48b6-9913-a4d88c48a113
ORCID for Joe Atkinson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5207-2231

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Date deposited: 15 Nov 2023 17:51
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:14

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Author: Joe Atkinson ORCID iD

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