Law queries

For at least 10 years staff have been able to finish at lunchtime on New Year's Eve. This year we have been told that this custom is ending. Have we not already established a contractual right to leave early through "custom and practice"?

To establish a contractual term through custom and practice it should be well established, clear cut and not discretionary. It would be discretionary if it depended on some action on the part of the employer. For example, if your manager announces each year that it will be fine for people to leave early this may suggest that there is no custom and practice. You would therefore need to show that the rule was so well established that there was no need for management to announce that people could leave early or to tell them when they were to go. It is always arguable whether or not a term is contractual through custom and practice.

* More information: LRD booklet, Contracts of Employment (2001)