Promotion revoked, new contract and rate of pay issued

SeduLOUs

On behalf of partner who works in social care. Started as frontline support worker and was promoted to "Service Co-ordinator" which was meant to involve managing client care plans and various other office related work.

Job never really took off - he only managed about 16 hours per week in the office and was always dragged back to front line work to cover because of staff shortages and bad rota planning. For the last month or so the job was 'on hold' until the staffing issues were resolved.

Received letter today:

"Further to my letter of 16th February 2015 which stated the position of Service Coordinator. Due to the needs of the company, this position is no longer require therefore current contract will be terminated as of 11th May 2015 and a new contract will be issued with the title of Support Worker. Due to the change in contract your rate of pay is now £7.50."

Rate was originally minimum wage, increased to £8.00 on promotion, and has now gone down but not all the way back down. He doesn't have 2 years service so we know constructive dismissal is a non-option.

Even within the two years surely they can't just terminate a contract and issue a new one? We haven't seen the new contract yet and don't know what other terms have been changed if any.

Sounds to me like they have made the position redundant without officially saying so.

Does he have any decent grounds for a procedural grievance, or a wrongful dismissal if he walks?

Difficult decision as to what to do as he loves his job (but not the management). It's not a huge pay drop, but they are very much an employer who think they can do whatever they want, and once they get away with something, it is highly likely a similar letter will appear in another 3 months to drop his pay further.

Thoughts, advice please?

footyguy

SeduLOUs wrote: »

On behalf of partner who works in social care. Started as frontline support worker and was promoted to "Service Co-ordinator" which was meant to involve managing client care plans and various other office related work.

Job never really took off - he only managed about 16 hours per week in the office and was always dragged back to front line work to cover because of staff shortages and bad rota planning. For the last month or so the job was 'on hold' until the staffing issues were resolved.

Received letter today:

"Further to my letter of 16th February 2015 which stated the position of Service Coordinator. Due to the needs of the company, this position is no longer require therefore current contract will be terminated as of 11th May 2015 and a new contract will be issued with the title of Support Worker. Due to the change in contract your rate of pay is now £7.50."

Rate was originally minimum wage, increased to £8.00 on promotion, and has now gone down but not all the way back down. He doesn't have 2 years service so we know constructive dismissal is a non-option.

Even within the two years surely they can't just terminate a contract and issue a new one? We haven't seen the new contract yet and don't know what other terms have been changed if any.

Sounds to me like they have made the position redundant without officially saying so.

Does he have any decent grounds for a procedural grievance, or a wrongful dismissal if he walks?

Difficult decision as to what to do as he loves his job (but not the management). It's not a huge pay drop, but they are very much an employer who think they can do whatever they want, and once they get away with something, it is highly likely a similar letter will appear in another 3 months to drop his pay further.

Thoughts, advice please?

If a position becomes redundant, then the position becomes redundant. Yes employers can issue termination notices to those affected by redundancy. It sounds like notice was originally given in February. If no notice has ever been given, then that would be an issue.

It appears your partner has, however, been offered a new position, albeit at the same level as they were originally employed. Has your partner previously indicated to the employer the willingness to accept a new contract, otherwise the letter appears a bit previous.

SeduLOUs

footyguy wrote: »

If a position becomes redundant, then the position becomes redundant. Yes employers can issue termination notices to those affected by redundancy. It sounds like notice was originally given in February. If no notice has ever been given, then that would be an issue.

It appears your partner has, however, been offered a new position, albeit at the same level as they were originally employed. Has your partner previously indicated to the employer the willingness to accept a new contract, otherwise the letter appears a bit previous.

There was no notice given, February was the original promotion.

He has asked a few times what is going on with the new role and has always been told it is 'on hold' until staffing issues are resolved. He has effectively been working as frontline for a while now but has always indicated that he wants to get on with the new job as soon as they will let him.

This is the first we've heard about the position being changed back, and the letter is dated yesterday so technically the notice given is -1 day. He is at work this morning and has been working at the new lower rate without even knowing about the changes until about 30 minutes ago.

It has come out in the gossip wash that they have recruited a new person for the Service Coordinator position but have given it a slightly different job title.

footyguy

SeduLOUs wrote: »

There was no notice given, February was the original promotion....

Whoops, sorry. I misinterpreted your OP.
Notice (or pay in lieu thereof) is normally required to terminate any position of employment, such as in the case of redundancy.
An employer cannot unilaterally decide to vary the terms of an existing contract - that would be breach of contract by them.

SeduLOUs wrote: »

It has come out in the gossip wash that they have recruited a new person for the Service Coordinator position but have given it a slightly different job title.

The job title is not so important. What really matters is whether the position was redundant. i.e. is no longer required. If a new recruit is now (or soon) essentially doing that job function, and only that job function, then it does not sound as though the position was redundant.

Edit: What I would add is, based on what you claim, it appears your partner was recognised for his ability as a Support Worker and hence promoted. Unfortunately it would appear the management felt after some time, that that promotion effectively had put a square peg in a round hole.
As he is now back as a Support Worker, albeit at a higher rate than orignially employed on in that role (possibly reflecting the employer's attitude to the positive way he performed in that role previously, and indeed part time despite supposed to be acting as a co-ordinator) then he needs to decide how he wants to progress.
I don't think, in these circumstances, he will be docked further money in future.

But I would understand if he felt bitter in the way he has been treated, and that may mean looking for compensation of some kind (and probably in such instance a new job, elsewhere)

SeduLOUs

Thanks footy, most of that is my understanding of it.

The big crux is that he hasn't been there 2 years which lets employers get away with a lot of things.

As his contract was 'terminated' either by redundancy or otherwise, is there a potential wrongful dismissal claim there for breach of contract i.e. no procedure/notice? I understand wrongful dismissal doesn't have the two year rule.

If so, does it matter that he has now been offered a new contract for a different job almost immediately?

footyguy

SeduLOUs wrote: »

.The big crux is that he hasn't been there 2 years which lets employers get away with a lot of things.

It does, but not breach of contract.

SeduLOUs wrote: »

.As his contract was 'terminated' either by redundancy or otherwise, is there a potential wrongful dismissal claim there for breach of contract i.e. no procedure/notice? I understand wrongful dismissal doesn't have the two year rule.

I don't believe his contract was correctly terminated, but I would suggest he seeks independent legal advice on this if he wishes to pursue his employer over this matter.

The problem will be, especially with less than 2 years employment with this employer under his belt, the employer may well seek to terminate his contract (legally) if he pursues a claim against them. It depends how he wishes to progress,

SeduLOUs wrote: »

.
If so, does it matter that he has now been offered a new contract for a different job almost immediately?

I don't think this will have any effect if he wants to pursue this matter, but the independent legal advisor I referred to earlier would be able to advise better.
If he continues to work there as a support worker, it may be construed that he has accepted the terms of this new contract (and so he will be bound by them). If he cannot sort this out today, and before he carries on working, he may want to get out now on the basis the previous contract was already breached first by his employer.

SeduLOUs

Thanks again.

Will wait for him to come home, let the info sink in, perhaps phone ACAS and then let him make an informed decision about what he wants to do about it (if anything).

It would seem a bit silly to walk over 50p an hour even if they are blatantly in the wrong, but obviously it leaves a bitter taste and makes you wonder what's coming next.

Do employers have no concept of staff morale? They ask him to come in early/stay late for 90% of his shifts and has never had a day off yet without getting a phone call asking him to come in which he very often does. They'll probably wonder what happened when he starts saying no or just doesn't bother answering his phone.

TrickyDicky101

Is he part of a union? If so, can he ask his union rep for advice? If not part of a union then maybe he should consider joining one in his new job.

SeduLOUs

TrickyDicky101 wrote: »

Is he part of a union? If so, can he ask his union rep for advice? If not part of a union then maybe he should consider joining one in his new job.

He isn't (yet) because I wasn't sure how much use they would be until the effective 2 year probation is up anyway.

If he sent a Union Rep into a grievance meeting about this, it would probably be a one way ticket to a P45 anyway...

getmore4less

I would think the best he could hope for is notice pay, is £0.50ph for the notice period worth the potential of it resulting in a terminal situation.

A casual you should have given me "notice period" weeks of this change might be enough to get it sorted.

SeduLOUs

getmore4less wrote: »

I would think the best he could hope for is notice pay, is £0.50ph for the notice period worth the potential of it resulting in a terminal situation.

A casual you should have given me "notice period" weeks of this change might be enough to get it sorted.

Exactly - if he has accepted the new contract the losses are minimal, but at the same time it's about wanting to make a point that he isn't just willing to roll over. An informal complaint is probably the best way of letting them know how he feels about what they've done without ending up out of work.

He's already tested a couple of boundaries with them before i.e. when they changed a shift on him with 2 hours notice and told him he would be AWOL if he didn't come in - he didn't go in and never heard another word about it. He feels fairly 'safe' in that they just don't have enough staff and he's good at the job.

Perhaps he could consider giving £7.50 worth of work instead of £8.00 either by being a little bit less flexible or efficient, but I doubt anyone would notice anyway.