changes in contract

snout71

i have another thread which was where my emplyer offered me redundancy but on his terms basically doing me out of over £4,000

the main reason i wanted the voluntary redundancy was because he wants us managers to start working nights from 12-9pm

we have never in all of 25 years of opening worked night racing (i work in a bookies) and i do not wish to start now as i have small children at home and i will never get to see them

i believe this to be a breach of my contract even though i do not have a written contract i have a verbal one and have never worked night racing, can i walk and claim redundancy due to unfair dismissal of my previous working contract or should i put my disagreement in writing or what

KiKi

You can't 'claim' redundancy if you walk - redundancy is when the work no longer exists, and your employer makes the role redundant. If your employer has offered you redundancy because your role no longer exists then you could take it, and you would be entitled to the statutory minimum unless your company offers better terms.

If you walk, you really only have two options: constructive dismissal and breach of contract. The first you may as well forget. Regarding breach of contract, you may possibly have a claim if it was the case that your hours were being substantially changed, but you'd need to prove that, and the reality of how that plays out is a whole other issue.

What hours do you work currently, what's the proposed shift change, and what are the current rules around hours worked?
How long have you worked there?
Did you receive a statement of particulars when you first joined (a statement that outlines your pay, your holiday, hours worked etc)?

KiKi

snout71

i am currently doing 37.5 hours a week we are payed on a weekly basis rather than an hourly basis, and have done for 12 years, the opening hours are 9.30 am to 6.30 pm, although he has extended these over the last year as they used to be 10am to 6pm and for no extra pay

the proposed shift change is all over the place, some days working 12-8pm some days 9.30 am to 9.30 pm, sundays we work 11am to 6pm with no break single manning

the gaffer mentioned in a letter 10 weeks ago that business would start to be opening for night racing though no specifics were mentioned, in it he also stated that he would be sending out a written statement of particulars within the next two weeks which has still not been done and it is now 10 weeks later.

have worked at the latest at 6.30pm in all the 20 years i have been employed though my current term of employment is 12 years

breach of contract is indeed what i am considering, he offered me a cut-price redundancy a week ago that i could not accept as it was a very poor offer

snout71

so the question is does the change of hours from 9.30 am to 6.30 pm

to 9.30 am to 9.30 pm and occaisionally 12 pm to 8 pm constitute grounds for breach of contract

bearing in mind i have a young family

ohreally

snout71 wrote: »

so the question is does the change of hours from 9.30 am to 6.30 pm

to 9.30 am to 9.30 pm and occaisionally 12 pm to 8 pm constitute grounds for breach of contract

Your employer has made a detrimental unilateral change to your terms, this may generally be viewed as a breach of contract - your difficulty is being seen to have accepted them by continuing to work, and to progress down a formal route you would resign (real risk of loosing redundancy offer) and claim constructive dismissal.

Can your employer demonstrate a substantially fair business reason for implementing the changes?

You really need to get a solicitor to discuss your options and your chance of success as this will likely become complicated.

Googlewhacker

get proper advice but if it is business reasons that he is changing the contract then you could be on the losing side of things here from what I understand.

Businesses evolve and need to change and by the sounds of it he has given you the correct consultation period, if you only wish to work days then I would suggest asking for flexible working time but again this could be refused.

I would suspect that the boss is looking to hire more people with these hour changes so if you put the positive side of things for you working days only you could do it but you need to be suggesting it in a positive mannor where its a benefit to your boss etc

Googlewhacker

ohreally wrote: »

Your employer has made a detrimental unilateral change to your terms, this may generally be viewed as a breach of contract - your difficulty is being seen to have accepted them by continuing to work, and to progress down a formal route you would resign (real risk of loosing redundancy offer) and claim constructive dismissal.

Can your employer demonstrate a substantially fair business reason for implementing the changes?

You really need to get a solicitor to discuss your options and your chance of success as this will likely become complicated.

Its easy, all he has to do is show that competitors now open late every day and he needs to do this to compete and survive within the business etc etc

ohreally

Googlewhacker wrote: »

Its easy, all he has to do is show that competitors now open late every day and he needs to do this to compete and survive within the business etc etc

Possibly not quite as black and white. It it reasonable to expect this employee to work the enforced change in hours taking into account her persona circs - up for debate

Why has he tabled an offer of redundancy - perhaps a tribunal can fish out the truth.

Googlewhacker

maybe he meant a compromised agreement?

I am amazed the OP is going to take this over a job though in the current climate, surely the best thing is to suck it up until you find another job so you have money coming in?

Plus its not going to be every night surely?

hcb42

With a compromise agreement she should get better terms than normal - in exchange for compromising something else usually a fair process in dismissal/redundancy processes.

I would get a half hour free with a solicitor if you can.

KiKi

snout71 wrote: »

so the question is does the change of hours from 9.30 am to 6.30 pm

to 9.30 am to 9.30 pm and occaisionally 12 pm to 8 pm constitute grounds for breach of contract

bearing in mind i have a young family

It depends on the current shifts. My personal take is that if your shifts are pretty much the same with a requirement to work one late shift a week (for eg), for good business reasons and with warning, I cannot see you'd ever win a claim for breach of contract.

If, on the other hand, he's asking you to work late shifts four days out of five, every week, starting next week with no warning, you probably do have a good case.

Breach of contract is very difficult to assess when you a) don't have a contract to refer to and b) it's down to what's reasonable.

You really need an employment solicitor's take on this, I'm afraid. But if it's one or two shifts in amongst others, then I think you're probably not going to be successful. Sorry.

I think the best case right now would be for you to request the earlier shifts on the basis of your children, and see if your boss will accommodate this. The fact that you have a young family, though, is not his concern - he doesn't have to work around it.

I would not recommend attempting the constructive dismissal route.

HTH
KiKi