Breach of Contract

Both employers and employees can be in breach of a contract of employment – so it’s important to know what this is and what you should do if either you or your employer breaches your contract.

What is a breach of contract?

A contract of employment is a legally binding agreement between you and your employer. A breach of contract happens when either you or your employer breaks one of the terms. For example, if your employer doesn’t pay your wages, or you don’t work the agreed hours.

Not all the terms of a contract are written down. A breach may be of a verbally agreed term, a written term, or an ‘implied’ term of a contract.

Your pay has special extra protection and in some situations your employer may be prevented from taking money out of your pay even if this wouldn’t be breaching the contract.

Breach of contract by your employer:

If you think there’s been a breach of contract, check the terms of your contract to make sure. If there has, you should try to sort out the problem directly with your employer first of all.

Legal action:

If you can’t sort out the problem with your employer, you could decide to take legal action. Think carefully before taking any legal action against your employer. Ask yourself what you want to achieve and how much it will cost.

Remember that you will only get compensation (called ‘damages’) if you can prove real financial loss, for example, if your employer doesn’t pay your wages – there’s no compensation for distress or hurt feelings.

Also remember that taking legal action might prompt your employer to take out a counter-claim against you if they feel they have one.

If you are a member of a trade union, it would be good to speak with them before taking any legal action, as some unions provide a legal advice service for their members. Otherwise, you should talk to one of our solicitors.