From: Steve Hedley <S.Hedley@ucc.ie>
Sent: Monday 26 February 2024 20:33
To: obligations@uwo.ca
Subject: Shams and Employment Contracts
The recent employment tribunal ruling in Abrams and Jolly v University of Oxford may be of general interest, and not only to ODG members from that particular institution. It was widely reported in the press (see e.g. Academics win claim against Oxford University over sham contracts , Guardian 21 Feb) and the ruling itself is now available on the Employment Tribunal website:
By this stage of the proceedings, the issue was simply whether the contracts under which the academics were working were employment contracts or not. The formal contractual documents clearly stated that the arrangements were purely services contracts, but the tribunal ruled to the contrary after a review of the actual contractual duties and the circumstances in which they were performed.
Steve Hedley