A term derived from a collective agreement was inapt for incorporation into a contract of employment. However, a later agreement, implemented after the Claimant had made her request for re-evaluation, which allowed for back payment, could be relied on to back date her pay to the date of the request.
The claimant was a grade one bilingual classroom assistant, employed in October 2004 by the London Borough of Hackney. In 2005 she requested that her job be re graded through job evaluation and also made further request to the new Headteacher in 2006. Evaluation did not take place until 2008 and it was only then that she was re-graded, following her having been awarded higher level teaching assistant status. By this point the job evaluation scheme, “The Hackney Process” had been incorporated into her contract, under which provision was made for back payment to the date of the request. However, the Respondent would not backdate the Claimant’s pay and asserted that the higher rate of pay was payable only from the date upon which she was re-graded, being 1st January 2009.