Can Employer Make a Cook Do Cleaning Instead?

samsmoot

I have been asked to find out what rights a person has when their employer wishes to remove their job and outsource instead.


This person has been employed as a full time cook for around 12 years, the company changing hands about 5 years ago - no new contract signed.


The employee's job description is Cook (and any other reasonable duties), but the employer is closing down the kitchen and getting an outside contractor to do the catering.


There will be a meeting soon and the employee needs to know where she stands, as the company have told her they don't want to let her go so would like her to sign a new contract to do cleaning. She is 67 years old and believes she is not physically capable of this job (it involves cleaning an entire block of flats).


What does she tell them? She believes that redundancy would be the appropriate thing and would be happy to take it - but is not happy to do hard cleaning when she was employed as a cook. She is still paying off a mortgage so needs the work, but on the other hand a redundancy payment would help with this.


Does she have a right to redundancy?

anamenottaken

If the alternative employment offered is not suitable (and in the end it could probably be for a Tribunal to decide), then if the kitchen is actually closing it does look as though she is in a redundancy situation.

If there is currently a kitchen but the catering operation is being outsourced, where will the food be prepared? If not on the same site, is it far away?

Undervalued

samsmoot wrote: »

Does she have a right to redundancy?

In addition to the comments made in the post above remember this lady is over 65 so the redundancy aspect is complex.

Suggest your read here.......

http://www.saga.co.uk/legal/everyday-legal/redundancy-and-retirement.aspx

Takeaway_Addict

It could also be tupe

samsmoot

anamenottaken wrote: »

If there is currently a kitchen but the catering operation is being outsourced, where will the food be prepared? If not on the same site, is it far away?

Not same site - no idea where it will be.

anamenottaken

samsmoot wrote: »

Not same site - no idea where it will be.

Without knowing where the company might be preparing the food, it is difficult to say whether TUPE could apply. If they were reasonably local it might be possible to say that changing to a cleaning position could be an attempt at avoiding a transfer.

IIRC Statutory Redundancy Pay used to have a tapering for those approaching state retirement age, never mind someone past it, but equality legislation now prevents that. Similarly any enhanced company scheme should not discriminate on the grounds of the person being beyond state retirement age.

samsmoot

anamenottaken wrote: »

Without knowing where the company might be preparing the food, it is difficult to say whether TUPE could apply. If they were reasonably local it might be possible to say that changing to a cleaning position could be an attempt at avoiding a transfer.

IIRC Statutory Redundancy Pay used to have a tapering for those approaching state retirement age, never mind someone past it, but equality legislation now prevents that. Similarly any enhanced company scheme should not discriminate on the grounds of the person being beyond state retirement age.

From what I understand the catering will go to an outside contractor, and therefore the current employer cannot offer any position with the contractor - though this hasn't been suggested by anyone.


I have looked at the links and the PDFs and it seems that the employer cannot really expect such a complete change of job, so I have suggested that the employer will probably have to make the redundancy.


The meeting will be in a week or so, and I have tenuously suggested she dig her heels in for a redundancy payment. As she is in any event unable to do the cleaning job she has nothing to lose, it appears, by being insistent. I noticed there are a few options on how to deal with it if the employer refuses to agree to terms, and a County Court claim would probably be suggested for breach of contract if necessary, is my thinking, though an Employment Tribunal would also have to be considered.


Thanks for the advice so far, everyone.