Contract help? increase "hours" with no extra pay?

[jackvdbuk]

Hi all,

at a bit of a loss here, i have been working for my company for a good 2-3 years, of which on the desk i am on for 18 months.

they have just given me a "new" contract which i feel is detrimental to my current contract and unfair.

basically my original contract states

• 35 hours per week
• currently we operate a shift pattern of four days on two days off equaling 8 hour working days + one hour lunch (9).. averages around 5 days per week but one week only do just 4 days.

i guess im at a bit of loss here, i have been doing on average 37.5 hour weeks~ per couple months (one of the weeks due to the rota pattern only work 4 days) on a 35 hour contract which i guess should have always been 40.

the new contract states 40 hours and 5 from 7 days per week. same salary and other points mainly stay the same.

what i do not like on he new one is: 5 from 7 days compared to four days on two days off and 40 hours instead of 35 for the same salary?


technically i have been working over 35 every week for the last 8 months.

can they force us to sign this new contract? they are trying to move the whole desk onto this and have put forward the new rota plan for 1st september and expect all contracts to be signed by next week! not much notice at all.


i understand i probably should go to CAB but id like some Hexus advice first of as always have been very helpful.

thanks all.

[Saracen]

....

can they force us to sign this new contract? they are trying to move the whole desk onto this and have put forward the new rota plan for 1st september and expect all contracts to be signed by next week! not much notice at all.

Can they force you to sign it? Not unless they stand there with a gun to your head.

More seriously, there are several issues in play here. The first is .... are they entitled to unilaterally vary a contract. The answer to that is .... they may be, and may not be. The first factor is whether your existing contract has a clause enabling them to do so. Another will be if there's a union with bargaining rights at the firm. If so, and the union have agreed it, then you may be bound by it, whether or not you're a member.

What is, in my view, absolutely certain is that if you're not happy, get proper advice before either signing or refusing to do so. If you do wish to refuse, again, get advice, but don't delay too much before registering your objection, politely and clearly, in writing, and explaining why you object. Do it formally, by letter, signed and dated, and keep a copy.

But, before refusing consider your options. Just how much are you prepared to object? If you object, options open to you include an employment tribunal, or if any change is material enough, leaving and claiming constructive dismissal.

Are you prepared to consider, for example, taking yoyr employer to an employment tribunal over this? Are you prepared to dig your heels in and fight? Are you prepared to accept that either fighting too hard, or going to a tribunal, may well (read almost certainly will) kibosh any ongoing csreer prospects at that firm?

I also know employers that will bin job applicants from anyone that's been involved in a tribunal, should they find out, simply because they regard them as too high a risk.

I think you face some major decisions. If you REALLY aren't happy with this change, you need to decide how far to go in objecting even if you have a legal right to refuse the changes, and whether if you really aren't happy about it, whether the best strategic move is simply to look for a new job. Odds are, if you stay put and kick up a fuss, you cards will be marked, and career prospects shot.

In any event, I say again, get proper advice. It's too important to do anything other than either grin and bear it, or look for another job, or get expert advice before committing yourself.

[Lucio]

I'm guessing the fact you're asking here means you don't have a good enough relationship with your manager to discuss this with her/him? Whilst they won't be necessarily responsible for the change, they'll be able to give some insight into the thinking and why the company felt the need to both change the hours and not update salary to compensate.

[KeyboardDemon]

Does your company have an HR department? If so have you been to see them in order to get their advice? With changes like this your company should be going through a documented consultation period, have you had letters and briefings explaining the rationale behind the changes?

These are just the first thoughts that popped into my mind, but I think the company's legal requirements vary if it is a smaller company with fewer than 50 staff than that of a larger company with thousands of employees.

Edit

What if you decided not to sign the new contract and they decided not to keep you on as a result, what are your prospects for finding work elsewhere?

[OilSheikh]

That sounded very confusing, but I think I got the gist of it -you worked 35 hrs before, now they want you to work 40 hours.
Are you a contractor , who gets paid by the hour ?
If you are permanent, your employer is trying to pull a fast one. Speak to your manager, if you don't like the new contract , just walk away. You cannot be expected to work for free

[jim]

Thing is, OilSheikh, unless you know where you're going to go if you lose/quit your job, refusing to sign can be very tricky.

It's all well and good saying that they can't do anything, but they can certainly make your life unbearable. And even if that's constructive dismissal etc, it's not easy to go down that route.

[Unique]

rather than CAB who deal with all sorts of things, ACAS deal solely with employment related issues so speak to them.

you don't have to sign a contract of employment for it to be binding, by turning up at work you agree to the T&C's, just like you agree to T&C's in a store when you buy from them

a contract can be amended by agreement or the employer can offer a new contract/terms and it's up to the employee to accept the terms or formally dispute them. if they really want you to work the new terms they could potentially make your existing post redundant and offer a new post with the new terms, and even go so far as to stating the new post is a reasonably substitute so if you don't accept it you would have no right to redundancy pay, however with just 3 years service the redundancy pay isn't going to be much, so worst case scenario could be you are made redundant if you don't agree to the terms

have they stated a reason for the change in contract? is the new 40 hour contract not including the lunch break which the 35 hour one didn't include? what are the times of work on both contracts? start and end times? maybe it's not as big a change as you think. I'd suggest you discuss it with your manager first, then speak to ACAS

[KeyboardDemon]

I was in a similar position about 12 to 15 years ago and I think you are in a better position than I was at the time as back then it wasn't just a change of contract but I actually had to apply for the job I was already doing and if unsuccessful at the time the company would have let me go as they did for some of my friends that worked there, others were redeployed and a few left of their own choosing.