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North Lanarkshire Council v Cowan - If an employer's attempt to vary a contract is not effective then all its old terms still apply: the employee cannot pick and choose [2008] EAT

Mr Cowan's claim was a test case for 52 such claims. He worked as a concierge, and from 1996 onwards his contract provided for a one-hour lunch break. Then, trying to implement a Single Status Agreement in 1999 the Council altered the concierges' terms, including that part of the lunch-break would now be unpaid, but their weekly hours went from 39 to 37 and the pay rate increased. The concierges objected and from then on worked "under protest": even so, from 2000 onwards the Council paid them on its "new terms".

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