The Court of Appeal in England has upheld a High Court award of
more than €50 million in bonuses to a group of 104 bankers
(Attrill & Ors v Dresdner Kleinwort and Commerzbank
(2012)). In the course of the judgment released on 26
April, the Court gave direction on the circumstances in which
promises made by an employer during the employment relationship
will become contractual, in this case a general announcement to
staff. The findings have serious implications for employers
in Ireland also, where decisions of the UK Courts on general
contract law principles are often followed.
Background: The case concerned an announcement
made in 2008 by the CEO of Dresdner Kleinwort's investment
banking division at a general "town hall" meeting to
staff and a subsequent intranet broadcast that a guaranteed minimum
bonus pool of €400 million would be available to staff and
divided on a discretionary basis, according to individual
performance. The bonus pool had been created to
