No redundancy for 15-year 'temp'
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• A lorry driver who worked seven months a year for the same company for 15 years did not have sufficient continuous employment to qualify for redundancy or appeal against unfair dismissal.
That was the ruling of the employment appeal tribunal which held up an earlier decision by an industrial tribunal. Driver Alexander Siliars, who worked for Charrington Fuels, had appealed on the grounds that the tribunal had erred in law. Now he may appeal to the High Court.
Siliars had driven fuel delivery lorries during the heating season between October and May for the company each year from November 1971 until May 1986. Parliament had ruled that periods of temporary cessation of work should not count as breaking the continuity of employment — but what was a "temporary" cessation was a difficult question of law.
The industrial tribunal concluded that since in the last two years of his employment Siliars had worked for 271/2 weeks, and had been 27 weeks out of work, the period out of work could not be regarded as a temporary cessation. His employment was therefore not continuous, but was a succession of short term contracts.