Length of service

Case 4: The facts

Mr Sears, a parish council clerk, took up a second job as a clerk to another parish, but was dismissed from this new job after less than a year. He argued that his service with the first council was part of a period of continuous employment that gave him the year's service he needed to claim unfair dismissal.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the two jobs could not be counted together. There was nothing in Sears's contract that they could, and the statutory definition for continuity of employment was not met as the two parish councils were not "associated employers".

Sears v Hesketh with Becconsall Parish Council UKEAT/0244/04