contract consultation

haddock01

Hi

Can anyone give some advise was called into the office today for a consultation on my contract, my area manager was supposed to be here to do it, but he couldn't manage it for one reason or another, so my manager did it. Anyway to cut a long story short, they want to take a weeks holiday off me, and recompense me by paying me it for two years, in other words two weeks money whoopee!!!! And they want to take me six weeks full sick pay off me and get this they want to give me a one off payment of £100 for this. Now don't get me wrong I realise that in the current climate there's not a lot I can do, but if anyone has any advice I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

Alison

SomeBozo

The first part , ie:

they want to take a weeks holiday off me, and recompense me by paying me it for two years]

is quite standard. In the current climate employers want less staff to do more things, a way of doing is is to give less holidays. Obv this needs to compensated for, hence the money.

The second part is more worrying

they want to take me six weeks full sick pay off me and get this they want to give me a one off payment of £100

I don't get it. Have they already paid you the 6 weeks when you were off?

It thats the case, the event has happened. In the first example about reducing holidays, that has not happened yet, hence the discussion between you can happen. If something has already happened and paid for, whats the point?

How was it left? What are you terms to accept/decline? Is the company in trouble? How much do you like your job?

Bozo

dmg24

I think the OP means six weeks sick pay entitlement, as opposed to sick leave that has already been taken. Could be wrong though!

SomeBozo

dmg24 wrote: »

I think the OP means six weeks sick pay entitlement, as opposed to sick leave that has already been taken. Could be wrong though!

Ah i see. Well if thats the case, its again the employer trying to cut costs, but not looking to cut the workforce as a first port of call, in a funny way its better than redundancies!

My company has been leading the negioations for this lately esp in textile and manifacturing. They look at taking away benefits first (like holidays and sick pay) then drop to less than 5 day weeks, then to making people redundant.

Its a crap situation, but its better than it can be!

Bozo

haddock01

Can they take the sick entitlement away for just £100, I haven't used the sick entitlement, in fact I never really have had time of sick, am pig sick about this, I know in the current climate it's better than redundancy but then I'm not sure if that isn't too far ahead in the future.

Regards

Alison

marksoton

haddock01 wrote: »

Can they take the sick entitlement away for just £100, I haven't used the sick entitlement, in fact I never really have had time of sick, am pig sick about this, I know in the current climate it's better than redundancy but then I'm not sure if that isn't too far ahead in the future.

Regards

Alison

It depends if the contract changes are deemed as " fundamental". In the examples you give i would say they are !

If you don't accept the changes the company will have to be very careful, they can't just go ahead and implement them without opening up the possibility of breach of contract. At the same time your refusal cannot be used as a reason for your selection for redundancy.

Do you have a union ? Are others in the firm having their contracts re negotiated ?

It certainly sounds like you should take expert advice.

Times are hard but companies can't just use this as an excuse to shirk their pre existing contractual obligations.

Liz_the_Whizz

Hi Alison,

It may be true that employers need to make immediate savings in employment costs to stay in business, but what your employers are doing is using the fear of recession to achieve permanent changes to terms and conditions which you can bet will not be reversed when business improves.

Have you spoken to any of your colleagues about it to find out what they are being asked to give up - I'm presuming these are collective changes, not just for you.

You also need to think about what you value here. Buying out excessively generous/costly/outdated T&Cs is reasonable but there needs to be sufficient incentive for the employee. Losing 6 weeks' sick pay entitlement may sound bad but it depends what allowance remains, and you should also factor in how likely you are to ever use it.

Your employer is offering very little by way of compensation at present, so the next step for you is to work out the value of what you are losing - a week's holiday sounds a lot to lose forever for 2 weeks pay.

There are a few options open to you:

You could offer to give up both temporarily for twice the sum in each case, but only for two years after which they are re-instated by which time the recession should hopefully be over

You could ask for a pay rise instead of the one-off payments - after all, employers with good T&Cs can often get away with paying a lower basic because they offer a good overall package

But of course if it seems that there is a real risk to your job, and you don't want to leave, you should be pragmatic and focus on getting the best one-off deal you can get.

Good luck!

SomeBozo

haddock01 wrote: »

Can they take the sick entitlement away for just £100

They can take anything they want from you, as long as you agree to it.

If you say no, and enough others say no, they will make the savings elsewhere, such as redundancies or hours, if they can't do that they will go out of business.

Bozo

CFC

I am with Liz on this. For some employers who are actually still doing well and are very profitable, this recession is a heaven sent opportunity to actually put more onto the bottom line by reducing benefits and giving no pay rises, and blaming the current economic climate for it.

Only you will know if your company falls into that category.