''Scally v Southern Health and Social Services Board''

992 Year 992 ( CMXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Worldwide * Winter – A superflare from the sun causes an Aurora Borealis, with visibility as fa ...

1 AC 294 is an

English contract law English contract law is the body of law that regulates legally binding agreements in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries ...

case, relevant for pensions and

UK labour law United Kingdom labour law regulates the relations between workers, employers and trade unions. People at work in the UK can rely upon a minimum charter of employment rights, which are found in Acts of Parliament, Regulations, common law and equit ...

, concerning implied terms.

Facts

Dr Gabriel Scally and three other doctors were employees of either the Southern or Eastern Health and Social Services Boards in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. In consequence of the long duration of undergraduate medical training, six years, they would not have been in paid employment for the requisite 40 years before retirement to get full

superannuation A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

(or pension) benefits by the time they reached 60 years of age. But by law they could "top up" their superannuation by a lump sum purchase of added years of superannuation entitlement within twelve months of beginning their first period of employment in the Health and Social Services. Their employer did not inform them of this option within the twelve month time limit and therefore they were not in a position to take advantage of the enhancement. Reynold QC, counsel for the employees, argued a ‘necessary’ term of employment was information about exercising rights under the superannuation scheme.

Judgment

The House of Lords held that the employers had breached a contractual duty, implied into the employment contracts, to properly inform their employees about their rights.

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, distinguished terms implied ‘in fact’ to reflect the parties’ unexpressed common intentions and those implied ‘in law’. He went on as follows.

1 AC 294, 307 Lord Roskill, Lord Goff, Lord Jauncey and Lord Lowry concurred.

Notes

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References

* English contract case law House of Lords cases United Kingdom labour case law United Kingdom employment contract case law 1992 in case law 1992 in British law

Facts

Judgment

See also

Notes

References