Employment law specialist Kam Bains explains the legal weight of job descriptions, and the implications for an employer who breaches these rules.
Job descriptions do carry some legal weight in that their content is indicative of the duties and objectives required of an employee. In the absence of one, the range of duties would have to be implied from the job title and other surrounding factors.
Every employment contract (even an unwritten one) is deemed to contain an implied term that the employee will be reasonably adaptable, which of itself is normally sufficient to cover minor changes in duties or manner of working.
Where the JD or the contract has a non-specific ‘other reasonable duties’ clause, the employee would be obliged to undertake other duties as long as they fell within the general scope of whatever function he/she was employed to undertake.
It must be remembered that the employer is under an implied obligation to not act in a manner which destroys trust and confidence; requiring an employee to undertake duties completely at odds with their normal duties would be a breach of this duty.
Finally, there is no reason why job descriptions can’t be used as evidence at a Tribunal.
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How legally binding are job descriptions?
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