Fire and rehire - redundancy?

rag31

My husband has worked for the local authority for just over 7 years. They are changing the terms of his contract so he'll now have to work shifts that include evenings and weekends and his pay will be reduced.

They are sacking and re-hiring everyone on the new terms, with everyone signing on the new contract getting a golden handshake roughly equivilent to what they'll lose in the first year on the new contract. (timed perfectly to be given a week before Christmas!)

They say that if he doesn't sign the new contract then he can take it as his notice. Does this mean he'll be made redundant or just sacked?

They are being really vague about it....

Thanks,
Becky

Gordon_Hose

I'm guessing if he doesn't sign the new contract, they'll take it he is handing in his notice. Not being made redundant.

[Deleted User]

Out of interest... how are they sacking everyone without everyone suing them for unfair dismissal?

rag31

Well, I have the letter here.

Basically they are giving everyone the opportunity to sign the new contract with new terms and conditions, and get the 'golden handshake'.

If they don't sign the new contract they will be dismissed and re-hired on the new contract with no golden handshake.

So, will this 'dismissal' in fact be redundancy? The terms and conditions of employment will have significantly changed but the actual job will be the same.

Thanks,
Becky

rag31

p.s. I'm just a little incredulous that this sort of thing is legal, but I doubt the local authority wouldn't have checked it out thoroughly!

anamenottaken

It can't be redundancy because the work stil needs to be done, otherwise there would be no job to offer (on the different terms). It would be dismissal for some other substantial reason. That reason would be related to the need to have people working under different T&C.

getmore4less

Get advice, check your home insurance for legal cover.

These changes adding shifts and weekends looks like a different job to me thats before the changes in renumeration.

problem is you might have to wait for the dismisal and NOT take the new over before you can take action.

Be interesting to see what termination notices look like?

They have to give him 7 weeks notice minmum(7 years service) before they can change anything, so you have 7 weeks to negotiate redundancy or get at ET claim in

rag31

Took letters to CAB who sadly didn't have enough time to look properly but confirmed it didn't look like redundancy but dismissal.

Not sure where to go from here, but we'll go to CAB again for more info.

Thanks
Becky

MrRedundant

Its unlikely to count as redundancy and more simply your OH giving notice to leave.

The changes are fairly common for councils where they change the contracts to include more flexible shifts. For example 9-5 M-F becomes 5 from 7 and so on this means councils don't have to pay OT or allowances as much.

These changes are likely to be legal and they have been tried and tested in court therefore unless there is more to the changes then I suspect he accepts it or finds a new job.

For the record I actually think the changes are fairly reasonable. Why should councils be any different from private sector employers? We are far past the days of 9-5 m-f working and OT/Allowances outwith these times.

rag31

Well yes, for taking on new staff but when you take a job you take into consideration the hours and pay beforehand and therefore a sudden change in both of these things require further consideration, don't you think?

We have a young family and one reason my husband took this job (which earns considerably less than if he worked privately) was because the hours were good for us as a family. He wasn't 9-5, he was 7-4 anyway! He is a tradesman not a pen-pusher.

Becky

MrRedundant

rag31 wrote: »

Well yes, for taking on new staff but when you take a job you take into consideration the hours and pay beforehand and therefore a sudden change in both of these things require further consideration, don't you think?

We have a young family and one reason my husband took this job (which earns considerably less than if he worked privately) was because the hours were good for us as a family. He wasn't 9-5, he was 7-4 anyway! He is a tradesman not a pen-pusher.

Becky

Employment law allows for some changes due to work requirements. As a tradesman flexibility is vital to services and I think there stance and offer is entirely reasonable.

The problem is council staff are being overpaid at the moment due to shifts etc and councils are cutting it out and quite rightly.