Annualised hours contract! Help!!!

willowibbly

Issue is now resolved, clause has been withdrawn. I work full time on a permanent contract and have worked for my employer for several years. After having some time off work with depression, our HR manager offered me the option of going part time. I considered this and decided this would be a good option for me. It was explained to me that I would be on an annualised hours contract, it all sounded great.
I have have now been working part time for a couple of months and have just been shown the contract. All was as verbally explained, apart from one sentence relating to sick absence, which said something along the lines of "Any hours taken off for sick absence will not count towards your annualised hours and need to be made up". It in effect means you would never receive sick pay and my terms & conditions have changed considerably. Had I known this was part of the deal I may not have decided to take the part time option.

I haven't signed the contract and have challenged this point, no one else either full time or part time in our organisation is on this contract.
I've looked for any other examples of companies operating this scheme and can't find any.
I believe that this point in the contract is wrong in that; as a part time worker I am being treated differently to both my full time & part time colleagues and that under the equal ops comm, flexible working hours guidance that this point ; is a denial of benefits, facilities & services.

Has anyone else come across this in an annualised hours contact, or do you know of any other arguments that I could use to challenge this.

Sorry it's so long winded, thanks for any help, thoughts offered.

hcb42

Suggest meeting with hr in first instance to explain all that

willowibbly

Yes, that's the next step this week, here's hoping common sense prevails.

hcb42

I would sincerely hope so! Good luck.

Jarndyce

It doesn't really matter whether anyone else has come across it or not - what matters is what is in your contract. If you are going to object then you must do so quickly, explicitly, formally and make it very clear that you are rejecting this change to your terms and conditions.

The ball is then in the employer's court, and a number of things could then happen:

a) they back down and agree that you can have 'normal' sick pay arrangements;
b) they sack you - you could then take out a possibly winnable unfair dismissal claim, but is it worth it?
c) there is a stand-off which only comes to a head when you go off sick and they don't pay you, at which point having exhausted internal procedures you could take a tribunal claim for unlawful deductions and the tribunal will rule as to what your contract says.

Only you know your employer well enough to be able to second guess what they might do, no matter what others' experiences are. But you need to be prepared for the worst case scenario if you are going to challenge this. You also need to keep detailed records, copies of every email and document, and act quickly - if you do not respond quickly you will be deemed to have accepted the changes.

Oldernotwiser

I used to work on an annualised hours contract and I certainly received sick pay, so it sounds like your specific contract. Are you in a union?

willowibbly

I am going to join Unison. Thanks for your input.
I will receive sick pay for days off, but have to work the time back for nothing which cancels the sick pay out.