Change of contract hours

Klug

Hi
Looking for some advice please. I have an 18 yr old daughter who is employed on a 20 hr a wk contract with a reasonably large retailer.
As it is the summer, they have previous employees returning to them from university looking to return to work for them during the holidays.
My daughter has been told that regardless of her contract, they have to re-employ the university returners and that for the summer, her hours will be reduced to accomodate them. This leaves her unable to meet her commitments. Can they do this?
Surely they cannot break her contract hours to accomodate uni returners?
Any advice greatly appreciated.

Jarndyce

How long has she worked there?

Klug

She has worked there just under 2 years now. Started as a Saturday job.

Jarndyce

Well, it does seem odd that a company should risk upsetting permanent employees in order to accommodate holiday staff, but perhaps that is a reflection on them as an employer and how much they value their staff.

Unilateral changes to terms and conditions are problematic to respond to. How to respond depends on the extent of the change, and how strongly the employee feels. Technically it is unlawful for an employer to unilaterally vary a contract without agreement, but the question is what remedy is available to your daughter. She can either accept the change or refuse it.

If she refuses, they might sack her. If they sack her, she might be able to claim unfair dismissal, but would that really compensate her for her loss? If she agrees, it will be a permanent change no matter what guarantees she is given that it may be temporary.

All I can suggest is that she holds out against the change and makes clear that it will be such a fundamental change for her that it will significantly hurt her financially and so she feels she may have to consider looking elsewhere - how the employer responds to that will give her a true indication of how much they value her.

Klug

Thanks Jarndyce. Lots of information there to consider.

wombles_forever

Hi, sorry to have to ask this but are you sure that your daughter's contract is for 20 hrs per week and that she is not on a variable or smaller contract but has been working the 20 hrs as standard for a while?

Was her contract definitely changed when she started working the extra?

How many hours are they going to be offering her per week now and has she asked what will happen when the students return to Uni?