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21 April 2021 / John McMullen
Issue: 7929 / Categories: Features , Employment , Tribunals
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Trust & confidence: a powerful tool

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Can a failure to secure prompt payment of employees’ bonuses be a breach of the implied term of trust & confidence, asks John McMullen
  • Development of the principle of ‘trust and confidence’.
  • The implied term: a powerful tool.

In Nair v Lagardère Sports and Entertainment UK Ltd [2020] EWHC 2608 (QB), [2020] All ER (D) 09 (Nov) the issue was whether the implied term of trust and confidence applied to circumstances where the employer failed to secure bonus payments due to an employee under contracts with other companies broadly in the same group, and where he was (allegedly) ‘strung along’. The alleged breach consisted of a failure to secure payment of bonuses due from other companies in the broad group of companies in which Nair (N) was employed and over which it is argued Lagardère (L) had sufficient de facto control, or where the conduct was a positive ‘stringing along’ and avoiding honouring the bonus payment, leading to a breakdown in trust and confidence. The question in this preliminary hearing was whether the claim should fail

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