Ms A. McGoldrick v The Governing Body of Darland High School and 2 others — 2020

Ms McGoldrick was appointed in May 2019 as a temporary full-time teacher covering maternity leave. The tribunal held that the letter of appointment did not create a fixed-term contract within the meaning of the Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002. Applying the contractual wording and the approach in Kilraine v Lion Academy Trust, it found that the reference to the post-holder returning, or to a change in circumstances, described circumstances leading to termination rather than an express and unambiguous fixed end event.

Because the claimant was a temporary employee and not a fixed-term employee, she was entitled to notice under clause 11 of the contract. The school sought to end the relationship on 4 April 2020, in the Easter term, so two months’ notice was required. The tribunal found that oral notice was given on 6 March 2020, when notice ought to have been given on 5 February 2020, and that this amounted to a breach of contract for short notice.

Liability for the notice breach therefore succeeded, but the tribunal did not determine a monetary award in the judgment. It recorded that the parties said they would try to agree damages, including pension loss, and it stayed remedy consideration, with a further remedy hearing to be listed only if requested by 14 December 2020.

The holiday pay claim failed. The tribunal found that the claimant had been paid monthly on the same basis as salaried permanent colleagues, that the payments covered earned wages and holiday entitlement as it accrued and was taken, and that she had been paid for all taken and accrued holidays as at 4 April 2020. It also recorded that the claimant conceded in submissions that she would only be entitled to holiday pay if she were a fixed-term employee, which the tribunal found she was not.