Changing employment details

Katykat

My son is a Project Manager for a national ( & European ) company. He has a contract. He was furloughed last year, went back part time but then furloughed again in January. He has been told ( unofficially) that he may be returning to work soon but on changed circumstances. Either - the same package, but will need to spend 3 days every week on new projects in Europe, OR demotion & pay cut doing refurbishment projects in UK. The first option would be difficult as he is a single parent. I’m not sure the 2nd option is legal. The details match his work description- he has been doing exactly this before lockdown but they are now saying he could continue this but on less pay. Not sure about the demotion as he is at the bottom of the team, there is no role below his so the company would be creating a lesser role. What would his legal rights be?

Undervalued

How long has he worked there?

If it is less than two years then he has little choice as his employment could simply be terminated just by giving him his contractual notice (or one week if nothing is specified).

Even with longer service they may well be able to argue that his current role is redundant and they are making every effort to provide alternative employment rather than simply making him redundant.

What does his contract say about working away from home? He may well have signed up to clauses that require significant flexibility in where he works.

Being a single parent is largely irrelevant for this purpose. Why should those with a spouse / partner or without children be treated less favourably? (which is in effect what you are saying).

Katykat

He’s worked there for 5 years. Would his role be classed as redundant if he would be doing exactly the same job, just for less pay? That’s if the 2 nd option was decided on. 

I wasn’t suggesting that he be treated more favourably than someone without spouse or children, just that it would be difficult to work option 1 ( he is the only parent. 

Manxman_in_exile

Regardless of what his contract says about flexibility re working away from home (sounds odd these days!) I would argue that if they now want him to work in Europe three days a week, that that indicates that his UK based role is probably being made redundant.

And...

Katykat said:

... Would his role be classed as redundant if he would be doing exactly the same job, just for less pay? That’s if the 2 nd option was decided on. 

...

No - I don't think that just reducing his pay would be redundancy - it would depend on the facts. 

Assuming his current role being transferred to working in Europe for three days a week constituted redundancy, then the question would become whether option 2 was a suitable alternative - and that would depend on exactly what his employer was proposing.  For example, in the NHS a move of one band down (or sometimes up) the Agenda for Change payscales pay would generally be accepted as a suitable alternative in a redundancy situation.  That is assuming option 1 puts him in a redundancy situation.

I think I know the answer before I ask - is he in a union?

Katykat

Correct. No union.