Implied duty to do the right thing…..
by Philip
An employer is under an implied duty to draw to an employee’s attention a contractual term (even a discretionary one) which may benefit him or her where there is a time limitation on the benefit.ie the right to the benefit expires at a given time.
In this case an employee was due to retire. The employer did not point out to the employee that there was a discretionary past added year’s scheme. That scheme would have entailed the employee putting in £12,000.00 to her pension (and the employer £24,000.00) but would have resulted in an added 6 pensionable years service. On a 60th scheme that would have boosted retirement income by 10%.
The question for the Tribunal to resolve is whether the past added year’s scheme was time limited, if it was the employer would have been in breach for not bringing it to the employee’s attention.
Employers need to be aware that there is an implied contractual term to bring to employee’s attention time limited benefits.
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