Mr G Bull v Cardiff City Football Club Limited — 2021

Mr G Bull was engaged by Cardiff City Football Club Limited from 1 February 2016 under an initial permanent contract as an International Development Coach on a salary of £19,000. In August 2017 the parties moved to a fixed-term arrangement, alongside separate contracts with Chinese partners; the tribunal found that the claimant had openly and voluntarily agreed to those arrangements, that the later fixed-term contracts were also validly entered into, and that the written documents reflected the true agreement between the parties.

The tribunal rejected the argument that the Chinese partners were acting as agents for the respondent. It found that the Chinese contracts expressly stated that the partners were acting as principals and not as agents, and that the respondent was not liable for any contractual obligations or payment shortfalls arising under those separate Chinese contracts. On that basis, the unlawful deduction from wages claim failed. The tribunal also noted the claimant’s evidence that some Chinese salary elements had not been paid in various months, but held that this did not create liability for the respondent.

The tribunal further found that the claimant remained on successive fixed-term contracts from August 2017 until 31 October 2020, when the final one-month extension expired. It held that Regulation 8 of the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 did not apply because the fixed-term period fell short of four years. The claim for breach of contract failed because the later contracts replaced the original contract, and the claim for holiday pay failed because the claimant’s employment ended on 31 October 2020 and he had taken all holiday accrued to that point.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal accepted that redundancy was the potentially fair reason for dismissal, found that the closure of the international department was a reasonable commercial decision in the circumstances, and concluded that sufficient consultation had taken place through the successive extensions, the discussions about the claimant’s proposal, and the final notice ending employment on 31 October 2020. It also found that there were no alternative roles available within the respondent’s organisation. All claims were therefore dismissed.