Change contract when pregnant?

aj9648

Can an employer change my T&C's while you are pregnant? (not yet on maternity leave)?

This says you cannot https://www.gov.uk/working-when-pregnant-your-rights
but was not that clear as I cant see it anywhere else

Thanks

elsien

Change your terms and conditions how? And are other people's terms and conditions changing as well, or just yours?

aj9648

No just mine. I work 2 days a week (Mon and Tuesday) which was agreed as part of renegotiated contract in 2011.

Now they want to change it to 2 days over 3 days, which does not help due to child care issues etc .... They sent me a letter saying if I dont sign it they will terminate my contract and find me a new role with the revised T&C's

Takeaway_Addict

Of course they can change the terms of teh contract, whether they do it legally or not is another matter.

Change of contract without agreement is a breach of contract regardless if you are pregnant or not but if they have a good business reason and they are not doing this because you are pregnant then you could lose a tribunal.

And you would have to take them to a tribunal for any redress which has costs now.

The employer does need to be alot more careful because you are pregnant but they do still need to be able to run their business.

You have worked for them for over 2 years so you do have some extra protection against unfair dismissal

aj9648

I think its a naff business case - its written on a half a piece of paper and was written after I requested it. And it does not make sense - where does that leave me?

Feels like a no win situation - if I sign I lose out. If I dont sign then they will change my T&C's anyway !!! and redeploy me

Takeaway_Addict

aj9648 wrote: »

I think its a naff business case - its written on a half a piece of paper and was written after I requested it. And it does not make sense - where does that leave me?

Feels like a no win situation - if I sign I lose out. If I dont sign then they will change my T&C's anyway !!! and redeploy me

You could raise a grievance.

You could also request flexible working again if you go with the change and they would have to give you a reason but it wouldn't be that hard to find a valid one.

Ultimately, if they push it through you would need to go through a tribunal to get redress and of course there is no guarantee you would win and generally it's a stressful process.

I presume you are not in a union for their advice? You could also post on redundancyforum.co.uk and get SarEL's advice who is a retired employment lawyer but be aware she is blunt and to the point.

aj9648

Yes in the teachers union - useless !!!

Ok will try the forum..

getmore4less

Check you house insurance for legal cover on employment disputes.


What is the motivation behind the change?( ie. a proper business case or trying to get you to leave).


Understanding the motivation can help with the approach.


What sort of employer?


if this is HR/manager in a bigger org they may back off if their bosses won't like a dispute.


if some small private company trying it on they will end up with significant costs if ends up at an ET.

Vectis

I assume you're not on maternity leave already?

Given that you can take up to a year off, how sure are you that this will affect you in a year's time? Lots of things can change in that time. You might find, once the baby comes along, that 3 shorter days at work are better than 2 long ones.

Also, I doubt very much if they would change your work contract without a good reason. What would be the point of it?

Why don't you ask them to explain the reasons for the change as you've said you don't understand them?

Takeaway_Addict

getmore4less wrote: »

Check you house insurance for legal cover on employment disputes.


What is the motivation behind the change?( ie. a proper business case or trying to get you to leave).


Understanding the motivation can help with the approach.


What sort of employer?


if this is HR/manager in a bigger org they may back off if their bosses won't like a dispute.


if some small private company trying it on they will end up with significant costs if ends up at an ET.

You don't know this, alot have insurance through employment specialists.

aj9648

They had me timetabled to work in september 2014, before I disclosed my pregnancy. Once I told them, they started wanting to have discussions about changing my hours etc...