Bit of a Mess - sorry a bit long!

Blade26

Before I start I just want to make it clear that my partner is extremely lucky to be in work, but the current situation with his MD is proving quite difficult.

In January my partner and his colleagues received a letter from their MD stating that costs needed to be cut in the business, they were not put at risk of redundancy, but were given options which ranged from pay cuts/unpaid leave or voluntary redundancy.

My partner and I discussed the situation at length and opted to go down to 4 days per week leaving the option to make up the shortfall with other work on the 5th day. Some people within the business opted to do nothing due to their financial situations.

The time came when the work amount built up to such a level that my partner was asked by his boss to return to a 5 day week with a 10% pay cut, my partner declined this in the short term as financially we would be worse off. My partner's boss accepted this, however the MD did not and basically rang my partner and said that he was disgusted with my partners attitude and did not want people working for him who weren't committed. He asked again for my partner to return to 5 days, my partner asked for the weekend to come back to him, and was told that he wanted an answer in an hour. Within this hour he rang my partner back and offered him a permanent part time 4 day contract, to which he said you can have the weekend to think about it.

My partner and I discussed the matter at length and he opted to go back up to 5 days a week, and that he would look for another job. My partner made is clear to his local boss (not MD) that he felt that he had no option but to come back to 5 days as he felt that the MD would engineer a way to get him out the business. Up until this point my partner had a great working relationship with his company and the MD, but felt aggreived that he had offered the company more opportunity to save money with a 20% pay decrease (down to 4 days), had complied with the request to save money from the MD, who stated in his original letter that he did not want to put his family home at risk with a secured loan, but did not seem too concerned about the finances of his staff.

My partner has now secured another job, which holds more prospects, larger company, more scope for career development etc. He has given notice to his local boss, who accepted this last week, stating that the main reason for his leaving is the financial situation we find ourselves in with the ongoing 10% pay decrease with no end in sight despite the Company thriving and taking on seasonal staff! My partner has given a new start date to his new company, the MD has now come back and said no you need to give 2 months notice, which admittedly my partner has made an error with. The notice he is required to give and the notice the employer is required to give are not consistent, hence where the error has occured.

We have rung ACAS who have said that we are looking at requiring more specialist advice than they can offer, so I thought I would post for some advice on here.

So now to my questions:

1. Could the MD's behaviour be classed constructive dismissal?
2. Can my partner bring his voluntary agreement to a reduced salary to an end? It is galling that others have done nothing, yet my partner has been made to feel incredibly guilty about his decisions.
3. How do you negotiate your way out of a business you are leaving i.e. not serve full notice period? My partner is leaving for a competitor so I would think this would be in the best interests of his current company.

Thanks in advance

Blade26

ceridwen

Well...I suppose the question boils down to "can the present company hurt me in any way if I leave when I need to to move to the new company?".

I guess someone will come along who can give the definitive answer on this - but I would imagine the answer boils down to "Short of maybe going for a bit of the remaining salary due - by withholding it - I very much doubt it". If they DO try to withhold salary due - then maybe you could seek a remedy for that. Personally - I'd head for the new company - and sort out the old company later (if need be).

Good luck.