Carmichael V National Power Plc
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''Carmichael v National Power plc'' UKHL 47
is a British labour law">999
UKHL 47
is a British labour law case on the contract of employment for the purpose of the
Employment Rights Act 1996 The Employment Rights Act 1996 (c. 18) is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), Act of Parliament passed by the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative government to codify existing law on individual rights in UK labour law. Histo ...
.


Facts

Tour guides had complained that they hadn't received written statement of the employment contracts under s.1 of the
Employment Rights Act 1996 The Employment Rights Act 1996 (c. 18) is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), Act of Parliament passed by the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative government to codify existing law on individual rights in UK labour law. Histo ...
. They worked at Blyth Power Stations in
Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
, for the
Central Electricity Generating Board The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Januar ...
. Their hiring contracts said ‘I am pleased to note that you are agreeable to be employed by the C.E.G.B. at Blyth ‘A’ and ‘B’ power stations on a casual as required basis as a station guide.’


Judgment

The House of Lords decided that they were not employees for the purpose of s 1, because there was not sufficient 'mutuality of obligation' when the guides were not actually guiding.
Lord Irvine of Lairg Alexander Andrew Mackay Irvine, Baron Irvine of Lairg, (born 23 June 1940), known as Derry Irvine, is a Scottish lawyer and politician who served as Lord Chancellor from 1997 to 2003. He founded and headed 11 King's Bench Walk Chambers in th ...
said that there would not have been an ‘irreducible minimum of mutuality of obligation necessary to create a contract of service’ (relying on '' Nethermere'') between the times actually working (while working the situation would be different). Their claim failed on the basis that on many occasions they would be called up but say they could not work.
Lord Hoffmann Leonard Hubert "Lennie" Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann (born 8 May 1934) is a senior South African–British judge. Currently, he serves as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong; he formerly served as a Lord of Appeal in O ...
stated, at 1233,
"…the terms of the contract are a question of fact. And of course the question of whether the parties intended a document or documents to be the exclusive record of the terms of their agreement is also a question of fact."
"The evidence of a party as to what terms he understood to have been agree is some evidence tending to show that those terms, in an objective sense, were agreed. Of course the tribunal may reject such evidence and conclude that the party misunderstood the effect of what was being said and done. But when both parties are agreed about what they understood their mutual obligations (or lack of them) to be, it is a strong thing to exclude their evidence from consideration."
999 999 or triple nine most often refers to: * 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries * 999 (number), an integer * AD 999, a year * 999 BC, a year Media Books * 999 (anthology), ''99 ...
I.C.R. 1226, 1235


See also

*
UK labour law United Kingdom labour law regulates the relations between workers, employers and trade unions. People at work in the UK have a minimum set of employment rights, from Acts of Parliament, Regulations, common law and equity (legal concept), equity. ...


Notes

{{reflist, 2


References

*E McGaughey, ''A Casebook on Labour Law'' (Hart 2018) ch 3


External links

*Text of the full judgment
18 November 1999
United Kingdom labour case law House of Lords cases 1999 in United Kingdom case law Electric power in the United Kingdom