Mr S Holt v International Automotive Components Group Limited — 2020

Mr Holt brought a breach of contract claim for about £1,000, arising from pay negotiations between the respondent and Unite that were finalised on 23 August 2019 after his effective date of termination on 26 July 2019. He said his contract entitled him to the backdated increases because the negotiations had started while he was still employed. The respondent said backdated payments were only made to employees who were still employed when the agreement was reached.

The tribunal found that clauses 8 and 19 of the contract incorporated the collective agreement then in force during the claimant's employment, which was the agreement dated 13 March 2013. It held that there was no express or implied contractual provision entitling an ex-employee to receive pay increases negotiated after employment had ended, and no basis for implying a separate Unite "backdated wage agreement" into the contract.

The tribunal also found no custom and practice requiring backdated payments to be made to former employees, and no contractual duty on the respondent to warn the claimant that he would lose any later-negotiated pay increase if he resigned before the negotiations were completed. It accepted that the claimant and Mrs Wendy Williams gave credible evidence, but concluded that the claimant's belief that he remained entitled to the later pay increase was unsupported by evidence.

On that basis, the tribunal held that the respondent was not in breach of a contract that had already ended when the wage increase was agreed, answered the agreed issues against the claimant on entitlement to post-employment increases and any right to future collective agreements, and dismissed the breach of contract claim as not well-founded.