Employment Contracts

Staff Handbook Allowed Contract Changes

The terms of an employment contract usually cannot be changed or varied without the consent of both parties (employer and employee), so an employer will often include policy statements in a non-contractual staff handbook, the terms of which it can change or update at will.

However, in the recent case of Bateman v Asda Stores Ltd, the EAT decided that the wording of the relevant staff handbook enabled the employer to make changes to contractual pay and work regimes without obtaining consent from affected employees.

The staff handbook was expressly stated to be included in 'your main terms and conditions of employment'...