Exposé d'anglais

Autoclenz Ltd v. Belcher and others

27 July 2011

UKSC 41

I. Legal problem

II. Facts and timeline

III. Legal reasoning

IV. Questions

I. Legal Problem

The question asked before the Courts was whether the valeters were workers as per the National Minimum Wage Regulation of 1999 and the Working Time Regulations of 1998.

To resolve this question, it was also asked whether the written terms of a contract may be disregarded in favor of what was implicitly agreed between the parties when assessing the nature of the relationship between them.

According to both Regulations, a worker is an individual who has entered into or works under :

"a) a contract of employment ; or

b) any other contract whether express or implied and (if it isexpress) whether oral or in writing, whereby the individual undertakes to do or perform personally any work or services for another party to the contract whose status is not by virtue of the contract that of a client or customer of any profession or businessundertaking carried on by the individual.”

Autoclenz Ltd invited the valeters to sign new contracts

The valeters issued the proceedings before the Employment Tribunal

The Employment Tribunal held that the valeters were workers on the basis that they were employed under contrats of employment as well as under contracts whereby they performed services for another party to the contract

2007

19 November 2007

1 March 2008

II. Facts and Timeline

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Autoclenz appealed to the Employment Appel Tribunal, which held the valeters where not employed under contracts of employment, but contracts whereby they performed services

Both partie appealed to the Court of Appeal which restored the judgement of the Employment Tribunal

Autoclenz appealed to the UKSC, which agreed with the Court of Appeal's decision

4 June 2008

2009

27 July 2011

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III. Legal Reasoning

Lord Justice Aikens's statement in the Court of Appeal :

Even if the written terms of a contract were agreed, it can be argued that a contract contains a term which is inconsistent with one of its express terms by alleging that the written terms do not accurately reflect the true agreement of the parties.

Test foretaken :

Reality of the situation :
Written documents reflect reality of the relationship ?
Evolution of the reality of the relationship as time goes by ?
Relative bargaining power of the parties ?

The Employment Tribunal was entitled to hold that the written agreements did not reflect the true agreement between the parties.

The Court of Appel was correct to hold that the true terms of the contract were implicit and that the Employment Tribunal was entitled to disregard the terms of the written contract.

IV. Questions

Can the terms of a written contract signed by the parties be disregarded if the reality of the situation shows there is an implicit agreement different to those terms ?

In your opinion, in this case was it a contract of employment or a contract whereby an individual personnally performs any work or services ?

Exposé d'anglais

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