ABSTRACT
Up until the end of the 1960s an employee in the UK had little or no legal protection so far as his employment was concerned. The employer had no duty to give the employee any specific form of contract or inform him of the basic terms of his employment. Thus, the employer had the power to dismiss virtually as and when he wanted and had no duty to give the employee the reasons for such dismissal, so the average employee, with only very few exceptions, had no continuity of employment nor any right to claim compensation when unfairly dismissed.
