Can they do this and next steps?

iPop_2

Hi,

My employer has recently made my team at work redundant (the whole team) and are recruiting for new roles - the team have all been offered voluntary redundancy and the roles they can apply for have been changed so that they would not have the necessary skills to meet the job description.

I however have not been offered this and told that my job title and description will change - my question is can they just change my role and job description/title without offering me redundancy?

There are two key areas of my job which are being advertised in new positions and are no longer part of the new role I have been told I am being placed in..

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Undervalued

iPop wrote: »

I however have not been offered this and told that my job title and description will change - my question is can they just change my role and job description/title without offering me redundancy?

Short answer - Yes!

There is no "right" to so called voluntary redundancy (in fact, technically there is no such thing)!

Your "right" is to NOT be made redundant if it can be avoided. Any other voluntary arrangement is just a mutually agreed separation which the firm can offer (or not) and the employee accept (Or not) as they please.

iPop_2

Thanks for your fast reply! So in the event of key responsibilities being removed from my job and being given more basic tasks - I have no grounds to legally challenge this? ie unfair dismissal?

Undervalued

iPop wrote: »

Thanks for your fast reply! So in the event of key responsibilities being removed from my job and being given more basic tasks - I have no grounds to legally challenge this? ie unfair dismissal?

To claim constructive unfair dismissal you would of course have to resign (after exhausting all of the firm's grievance procedures). Statistically such cases have less than a 3% chance of success. Based on what you have posted here your chances would be next to zero.

If your contract is being changed against your will then, in theory, you could resign and under those circumstances claim unfair dismissal (not constructive despite the resignation). However, be aware that very significant changes in contract and / or cuts in pay have been held to be lawful especially if the firm argue the only alternative was redundancy (i.e they are doing you a favour)!

In any case virtually all employment contracts have a clause to the effect of "all other duties the firm may reasonably require". Even if this is not spelt out it is arguably implied.

Sorry!

Mersey_2

iPop - an employer cannot make a fundamental change to your contract of employment unilaterally, ie they require your agreement in order to change your job title and so on.

However, most of what Undervalued has said is correct and therefore you have to consider the merits of resigning and seeking redress or staying on and looking elsewhere, ie I have no idea of the sector or your experience or prospects and so on.

getmore4less

Although it seems rare you can work under protest and still go to an ET one you had explored other avenues.

EasyAs123

Would there be some grounds for protest if these changes in role result in longer hours or reduced salary - the basic conditions of his employment contract?

I seem to remember somewhere that reduced salary was argued successfully to be constructive dismissal (though I think the article I read was referring to a full time worker that was moved to an ad hoc part time shift pattern so a more extreme case than the op).