Can an employer force you to change job title and/or grade?

w60

All,

  I should state I know given the current state of the world I should count myself lucky to have a job, and many may wonder why I am even moaning.

To save having to read the background  my questions is can an employer force you to change job title and/or demote your grade, especially if you have not had any official complaints/negative HR reviews etc? Please note my contract states job title but does not give specific duties.

Background story is (sorry its war and peace length -- I may have found getting this off my chest therapeutic) I have worked fro the same IT services company (its gone through various rebrands with mergers etc)  for 20 years. It had offices in the UK, India and US (where the snr mgmt were), and the teams worked across borders without issue. In this time I've changed roles through promotions etc from being an engineer,snr engineer, manager and then was asked to transition in to a role focused on a specific area that the company was just creating a dedicated role for (as it was not directly managing people it was a  HR equivalent level of manager --- it came with a 25% wage bump so as you can image more than happy reporting to one  of the more junior C-Suite members). It should go without saying I got consistently good annual reviews etc from as far back as I can remember.

A year and a half ago my company was partially acquired by a big corporate US firm and was integrated (or rather placed) in to one of the main divisions. We were all put in the new companies grading level and forced to sign new contracts with the same job title but with differing benefits/holiday allowance (I still have an email on file from the person from the new company where he basically states if I dont sign the new contract they would have to terminate my employment which I'm sure wasn't quite legal). I should state I was flown over to the states several times to assist in the integration along with weekly late night calls around 9:30pm, flagging outstanding issues the new owners would need to address (as I'd only recently been placed in the role and the company had not given it much focus prior there was a lot for me to raise). I have a contract that states job title, but is very general  stating duties are essentially whatever you mgr tells you. Due to partially acquisition which was based on the technology, my boss and people I worked with daily stayed with the original company  and I moved to the new. After about 6 months they moved the various teams around aligning them with the relevant internal dept. As I was not part of an overall team only I got moved to the team I'm now in, which is approx 20 people which are all US based, and I was reporting to a similar junior C-suite manager who was in a time zone 7hrs out from mine. The manager did state to me several times verbally that they were very busy, and essentially let me get on with my job, did not ask for updates and we only had a very short 1:1 meeting on a monthly basis which were more friendly chats about social aspects than heavily workbased. I made a mistake here that I did not go out of my way to try to get his attention/impress and rather just raised items if I needed their assistance, and I have to admit after 20 yrs working with the same group of people the transition was a bit of a shock to the system so I did feel a bit of a fish out of water. I'm not the most confident of people, and as the area I was responsible for needing much improvement (per previous comment), I decided it was best to try to full adopt the new companies strategies/policies, and support my new team by helping connect them with the relevant division owners etc (this seemed to be supported by my boss). While I made myself available outside of my normal working hours whenever asked I did find I was being excluded from some initiatives which I presume was down to the time zone difference - I was busy enough so did not push the point on this and thought in part it was just part and parcel of being part of a bigger company.

In November last year my boss visited the UK office  and advised verbally that he was thinking about restructuring the team with myself and a few others who were not managers moved under one of his other managers. I did state this would feel like a demotion to which he advise he would think about this some more. While it was not raised again he did on a couple of 1:1 meetings ask what I saw my role as/long term career direction. I was meant to have my annual review in March, however my mgr advised that company policy was that any new starter who has not had a review before gets the mid-rating so did not bother to go through it with me. I only found my review on a HR system later when I received and automated notification email that in his comments he simply had added "need to be more confident on calls". The day after my last call with my manager I received an email simply stating that he had worked out how to move people in the HR system and as discussed I was now under one of his managers and "Nothing changes fundamentally just I will have a more attentive manager." .I arranged to meet with him the next available slot and raised the fact I had raised concerns on the last time we had discussed, and that essentially I was not happy about it but would of course accept if required to, however I felt I was on the same level as the manager, and I noted that the other non-managers reporting to him were not being moved. He advised he did not know what I was working on, usually has 1:1 weekly meetings with his direct reports, but did not have time to do that with me, stated he did not see me as the same level and flagged the confidence aspect. I did comeback with raising he had not asked me for updates, which I would be more than happy to give, that he had advised he was busy so I had intentionally only bothered him when hitting roadblocks etc (I accepted the confidence part) --- regardless he was not willing to change his mind.

My new manager (also US based in the same time zone as the previous) is constantly pushing for me to change my role to what I believe is a much more junior position with a much more limited scope ( I believe its usually two job grades below my existing). While it has not been stated I am concerned that I will lose my existing grade and benefits if I accept an official role change, and even if not I will be struggling to prove my worth in such a limited role. The curve ball on this is as stated the team is all US based so not familiar with UK employment law so will unknowingly request unfair changes.

I will obviously attempt to do my best regardless of the position, and dont want to be a "problem" employee but in the same light unsure of what rights I have -- can I be forced to take a new role/demotion especialyl as I have not had any "bad" reviews except the last when I've not yet been given chance to address?

Carrot007

TL DR.

Short answer from the title. Yes.

jonnygee2

To save having to read the background  my questions is can an employer force you to change job title and/or demote your grade, e

Sorry, struggling to find relevant details in your post.

1) Are you being paid the same? Same benefits?

2) How similar / dissimilar are your new duties? Is it reasonable that you would be able to do them, given your old responsibilities?

There's not much in the law about changing managers and 'levels' or 'grades' as you see them - that's more internal to your company. If they asked an IT engineer to, say, work in the warehouse shifting boxes all day every day that could be a fairly clear case for constructive dismissal. But it has to be really different, so that it's unreasonable for them to ask you to do that stuff. 

On the other hand jobs do change in their nature over time, due to the needs in shifting industries etc, so of course employers are allowed to shift things around within reason. It would be absurd if companies had to fire and rehire everytime they wanted to amend a job title.

Also, clearly if they paid you less that would be a breach of contract unless you agreed to it.

Brynsam

w60 said:

All,

  I should state I know given the current state of the world I should count myself lucky to have a job, and many may wonder why I am even moaning.

I stopped reading at that point. Yet another person who 'understands that....' but is convinced the current crisis shouldn't be allowed to impact on them. An employer can do pretty much anything they like; it's the consequences of those actions that matter. If you suffer no financial detriment, accept that a dent to your pride simply doesn't matter right now.

w60

1) Are you being paid the same? Same benefits?

2) How similar / dissimilar are your new duties? Is it reasonable that you would be able to do them, given your old responsibilities?

Thanks for the reply and trying to work through the rambling post. I guess the crux is I feel I am being demoted without being given a fair chance to address any issues raised as the reasoning, and if I accept a title change I am agreeing to it.

To answer your questions:

1) currently yes there are no changes but my concern is this might change if I accept the role change -- looking  to understand my rights here.

2) It is in the same overall area but the best I could describe is it would be the same as saying an architect and a general building labourer both work in the construction industry. I am willing to do whatever work is required (and look to work my way back up) just concerned it is below my grade and will then add weight to then being demoted later on -- (without trying to sound big headed my salary is probably nearly twice what the role I seem to be being pushed in to would  usually pay, happy to do it but feel it would them put me on the chopping block for the next round of redundancies).

thanks again

Andy_L

w60 said:

I will obviously attempt to do my best regardless of the position, and dont want to be a "problem" employee but in the same light unsure of what rights I have -- can I be forced to take a new role/demotion especialyl as I have not had any "bad" reviews except the last when I've not yet been given chance to address?

If there is no pay cut: Yes
If there is a paycut: Yes, but they have to jump through the right legal hoops & need a good business reason for the cut to not lose at a tribunal if you decide to take it that far

TELLIT01

An employer can change any job title they want to, at any time.  Cutting wages is another matter and would need to go through formal process in any large company.

jonnygee2

 It is in the same overall area but the best I could describe is it would be the same as saying an architect and a general building labourer both work in the construction industry.

Those two jobs aren't similar at all. That's changing from a skilled office job to manual labour on a building site. If that is the level of change then of course they are not entitled to do that without agreement.

Is that what's happening though? Are you moving now into physical labour that your old job does not prepare you to do at all with no say in the matter?

You seem to be obsessed with 'levels' and 'grades' but I don't think that's what's relevant (as I think I mentioned?) . It' a question of whether it's reasonable that someone who does your current role could be asked and expected to do the new role. You imply the job will be easy for you, which indicates this isn't that much of a switch.

sliphi

Carrot007 said:

TL DR.

Short answer from the title. Yes.

Agreed, TL;DR
But the correct short answer from the title would be NO.

Think about it. You accept a contract of employment that calls you a Senior Scientific Manager and pays you @ a rate of £250k pa.

An employer cannot turn around one day and declare, today you are to be known as the Janitor and will be paid minimum wage.

Clever employers will use a generic job title commensurate with the pay grade so that they then have greater flexibilty over what they can expect an employee to do.

e.g. Operator - Grade B, etc

OP - you have a contract of employment. That contract of employment cannot be altered unilaterally. You will need to refer to that contract as to what your employer may or may not be allowed to expect from you .... and similarly what you can expect from them.

General_Grant

Jsacker said:

TELLIT01 said:

An employer can change any job title they want to, at any time. 

Would it not constitute a variation of contractual terms, if the job title is written in the contract?

Yes.  And the written particulars of employment are supposed to describe the job sufficiently and the use of a job title is often the way that this is done.