A trainee solicitor who took his former employer to the employment tribunal after it changed the terms of his contract days before he was due to start has been awarded four weeks’ pay.

According to the published judgment, the claimant, named as A Osvald, claimed breach of contract by southeast firm Holden and Co LLP when it told him he would be required to work at different offices. 

Osvald completed his law degree in 2013 but did not pursue a legal career at the time because of child care responsibilities. He applied for a trainee role at Holden and Co LLP in 2021 and met with the firm's principal to discuss the trainee solicitor role. Employment Judge McLaren found that the conversation ‘set out the parameters for a working relationship’ which included the job role, salary, reduced hours, a start date and the office location.

Subsequent emails confirmed these details including the £22,000 full-time salary and the office location, a parking space and covering of expenses for exams.

Osvald received his contract four days before his start date. He told the firm that he could work only in the Hastings office due to childcare responsibilities and that a reference to working at other offices needed to be removed. However the firm said it was essential that Osvald was available to work at the Ashford, Kent, office. Osvald returned the firm’s keys three days later.

In finding a breach of contract, the judgment stated: ‘There is no requirement for an employment contract to be in writing. What is required is offer acceptance and consideration.' The judge found the agreed office location was Hastings. The firm 'fully understood the reason for the claimant’s limited ability to attend at other sites. To go to Ashford would be entirely impracticable with a pickup from school and the respondent was aware of this fact.'

The judge concluded that sending a written document changing the place of work, 'albeit on an occasional basis', and refusing to alter this amounted to a fundamental breach of a term. 'This was sufficient to allow the claimant to treat the oral contract as at an end and resign.’

A remedy judgment found Osvald was entitled to four weeks' pay, agreed by both parties as a ‘reasonable notice to be implied’. Osvald was awarded £1,354.