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 right
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