Read on Twitter
1/ Having tweeted last night about a Duncan Ferguson case which I'd assumed to be about a red card appeal, the EAT has this morning put up its judgment in R O'Sullivan v DSM Demolition - clearly a case about Ronnie & a contractual dispute over a prize for another 147 #ukemplaw
2/ Alas that was not so. This is a case about continuity of service in circumstances where the employee does some stuff for the employer before the contract officially starts. O had done his H&S registration, uniform fitting & performed some work before the contractual start date
3/ That work hadn't been paid for by the employer, but out of the pocket of one of the employer's workers, with no work sheets for pay from DMS filled in. The ET found the contract for that work was under a collateral contract & didn't count for continuity purposes.
4/ That conclusion was upheld by the EAT. The statutory test is that set out at s.211(1)(b) - that time begins "with the day on which the employee starts work". The question was whether what O did before the contracted start date started that clock.
5/ The EAT held that it didn't. Heavy reliance was placed on the following paras of Koenig v Mind Gym in support of a finding of a collateral contract for the earlier work. The Judge was entitled to note the strange payment arrangements in reaching that conclusion.
6/ One other argument that the EAT dispatched swiftly was reliance by O on the presumption under s.210(5). The EAT held that to be concerned solely with interim periods between a start & finish date & not whether a period at the start or end should be counted.
7/ For those who've got to the end of this thread, here's your reward - a link to the case: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ec29947e90e071e2e067ff2/Mr_R_O_Sullivan_v_DSM_Demolition_Ltd_UKEAT_0257_VP.pdf #ukemplaw
