Henry v London General Transport Services

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Henry v London General Transport Services Ltd
Court	Court of Appeal of England and Wales
Decided	22 March 2001
Citations	[2002] EWCA Civ 488, [2002] ICR 910, [2002] IRLR 472, [2002] Emp LR 1031
Keywords
Contract of employment

Henry v London General Transport Services Ltd [2002] EWCA 488 is a UK labour law case concerning the scope of protection for people to employment rights.

The Transport and General Workers Union negotiated with a management buy-out (via share transfer) prospector for a collective agreement that would mean less pay and worse conditions for members. Sixty three members, including Mr Carlton Henry, objected. The other 1,500 agreed to it. The sixty three claimed for unlawful wage deductions under Employment Rights Act 1996, section 13. Had their contracts been varied by collective agreement, in absence of an express incorporation clause in their contracts? There had been no ballot, which was workplace custom, so the 63 argued that there was no incorporation.

The Employment Tribunal upheld the claim of the sixty three, and by continuing to work for 2 years under protest, they had never consented. However the Employment Appeal Tribunal allowed the employer’s appeal, but remitted to trial whether a ballot was in fact reasonable, certain and notorious.

Pill LJ rejected the employees’ appeal. It said, first, that the tribunal had not justified its conclusion that the employees had not consented by working normally for two years. Second, it needed to be asked whether it was customary – as well as a collective agreement with a ballot binding the workforce – if a collective agreement without a ballot could bind the workforce.

Longmore LJ and Sir Martin Nourse agreed.

• Contract of employment in English law
• UK labour law
• EU labour law
• US labor law
• German labour law

• [2002] Industrial Cases Reports 910
• [2002] Industrial Relations Law Reports 472
• [2002] Employment Law Reports 1031
• Painter and Holmes. Cases and Materials on Employment Law. pp 99 to 100.
• Collins, Ewing and McColgan. Labour Law: Text and Materials. Second Edition. Bloomsbury Academic. 2005. Paragraph 10.11 at pages 996 and 997. See also p 104.
• 17 Journal of Contract Law 197 and 204
• 151 The New Law Journal 349
• Bargaining Report, numbers 223 to 233
• 9 People Management