Adefunke Adekoya and others v Heathrow Express Operating Company Limited — 2022

The tribunal heard an open preliminary hearing on whether it had jurisdiction to determine the claimants' breach of contract claims and whether they had a contractual right to privilege travel after redundancy. The claimants were employees of Heathrow Express Operating Company Limited who had been made redundant on 30 June 2020. The judge found that the ATOC terms and conditions governing privilege travel were incorporated into their contracts when they were employed, including a right for staff with five years' service to retain the benefit on retirement or redundancy.

The tribunal then found that the contractual position changed in May 2019, when the Rail Delivery Group drew a distinction between safeguarded and non-safeguarded staff. On the tribunal's findings, only safeguarded staff who retired or were made redundant remained entitled to the travel discount after that change. The judge accepted the respondent's position that the contract could be varied, and found that the claimants' contracts were varied so that non-safeguarded employees no longer had the pleaded contractual right to privilege travel on redundancy.

Because the tribunal found that the claimants no longer had that contractual right at the date of termination, it held that no claim arose or was outstanding on termination for the purposes of the Employment Tribunals and Employment Tribunals England and Wales (Extension of Jurisdiction) Order 1994. The tribunal therefore concluded that it had no jurisdiction to hear the claims and dismissed them.