Change of contract what are my rights

jaypk

Hello, I'm hoping someone will be able to answer my query. I have a guaranteed 20 hour week contract I have been employed by the company for 4 years. A few days ago I came home from work to a letter stating in 5 weeks the company is proposing a substantial change to my contract. a 40% reduction in hours. They are also proposing to guarantee a number of hours per year but not necessarily on a weekly bases which would leave.me with several weeks without an income
. No one else in the company has received this letter in fact 2 employees that have asked to reduce hours have to wait until january to do so. The reason I am being given is that my department catering ( I am the only caterer and only manual worker in the company) is not cost effective although there has been no mention of this to date. In fact in March I received my annual bonus which was higher than any previous year. I was so shocked by the news I called in sick the following day and on day 2 went to my GP because of constant nausea and migraine. I have been signed off for 2 weeks the first sick cert in 4 years. I on the advice of acas emailed to say I had received the letter and raised some points that I wanted clarifying ie are they guaranteeing me a weekly pay or ad hoc hours as and when they decide. which would as I mentioned earlier leave me with weeks with no income. I also advised that I had submitted a sick cert. I received a reply today saying He would respond to the points raised in my letter sometime towards the end of the week,my sick cert had as yet not arrived but nor had the days post and that on my return he would discuss referral to occupational health practitioner as stated in company policy. There is no mention of OHP in my contract, I have spoken to another ex employee who confirmed he although on sick leave for several weeks before leaving had not been referred and had never heard of it happening to anyone in the 12 years he had been employed by the company. what they could do for migraine I have no idea. I am known to have back problems but in 4 years have had no more that 4 days off of work I take very strong pain relief and get on with my job. I beleive this to be personal and related to the fact that 6 months ago I raised a grievance against him. He dealt with the complaint himself even though I stated that it was against acas guidelines to deal with a grievance against yourself. He replied they are only guidelines, as you can imagine nothing came of the complaint There are two other bosses that could have heard the grievance. Obviously I have been looking for alternative employment but as yet had no success and financially I am not in a position to not work. Although in saying that I am going to refuse the proposed new contract which I assume will lead to my original contract being terminated. Can anyone advise if I would have a claim for constructive or unfair dismissal and also what will happen when he terminates my contract, will I be entitled to pay in lieu of notice? Thanks in advance for any advice you may be able to offer.

SarEl

A referral to OH is absolutely normal and should always be done if deemed necessary. You need to co-operate with any such referral - failure to do so would be a very bad idea.

In terms of the contractual change you have a right to rfeuse it. If you do the employer has two options. Forget it. Or enforce it. If they enforce it then they must terminate your employment with notice and give you the opportunity to sign the new contract - agrreing to the change - before your notice runs out. If you continue to refuse then you may have a claim for constructive unfair dismissal - never a great case to claim for because it has a very low success rate. Or conceivably they may make you redundant from your current post. But all of this is speculation - you would have to refuse and see what they do next.