Slack v Cumbria County Council is the name that will be used in the Court of Appeal for Cumbria County Council v Dow (No.2), which was reported in the February 2008 IRLR.

The issue is the circumstances in which the six-month time limit for bringing an equal pay claim, which runs from the last day on which the woman was employed in the employment, operates where there has been a change to the employee‘s terms of employment in respect of their status, hours or duties.

The EAT held that the time limit is triggered in circumstances in which the parties have agreed to effect the changes by termination of the existing contract of employment and issuing a fresh one, in this case via the mechanism of a document which expressly stated "this contract of employment supersedes any previous contract of employment", even though there is no interruption in continuity of employment, no break between contracts and the only change was that the claimant agreed to a change in hours from 37 to 30.

According to Mr Justice Elias, the form of the change is crucial in determining whether the contract was terminated or merely varied: "where it is clear from the contractual documents that the parties have agreed to effect changes by a fresh contract, that must be decisive. The courts must give effect to their chosen mechanism".

On appeal, it will be argued that the reality of the matter was that the employees did not terminate their contracts of employment and enter into a new contract. There was simply a variation of their existing contracts of employment.