Secondment for over two years

General_Grant

Beedoo said:

Hello,

I have been seconded into a role for 3.5 years now.  It was expected to continue at least another year, maybe three, but has suddenly been cut short.

I have been informed I will be returned to my substantive post at a lower grade.  Whilst grateful that I have a job, I am curious as to my rights at the higher grade?  Can they reduce me down to my previous salary or do they have to put me at the top of the lower grade now (I would have progressed to the top of that by now)?  Do they have to give me notice (my notice period is 3 months) or can they reduce my salary immediately?  Can I argue I am permanently at that higher grade now as I thought two years made it permanent?

Thanks

Sue

Being employed for two or more years on continuous fixed term contracts mean you have the same rights as a "permanent" employee.  That would apply for instance in the case of redundancy.

It doesn't mean they can't move you to another role.

Beedoo

Savvy_Sue said:

Do you have an online HR portal you can log into? I'd say I can see all my changing contract details on our, except I know it was all scanned in from my paper file and I suspect there were a few bits missing because we weren't always as good at that kind of thing as we are now. 

No unfortunately not

MalMonroe

You could contact acas for some advice - https://www.acas.org.uk/contact

But why not ask if you can have a meeting with your head of department or the person who is in charge?

You said "I also knew it was due to last another 12 months and it hasn’t" - so I'd want to ask why. Is there any reason that your employer can't tell you?

I'd also want to know about the job I'd be returning to - what grade, what pay, etc. 

It's all a bit vague and you do have a right to know, surely?

I once took on an internal secondment on a higher grade with higher pay when I worked in higher education to cover for someone's maternity leave. I was given specific dates and the secondment only lasted the length of the maternity leave. I was also given an official agreement to sign beforehand detailing length of secondment, pay and expected date of the end of the secondment.

getmore4less

Beedoo said:

Hello,

I have been seconded into a role for 3.5 years now.  It was expected to continue at least another year, maybe three, but has suddenly been cut short.

I have been informed I will be returned to my substantive post at a lower grade.  Whilst grateful that I have a job, I am curious as to my rights at the higher grade?  Can they reduce me down to my previous salary or do they have to put me at the top of the lower grade now (I would have progressed to the top of that by now)?  Do they have to give me notice (my notice period is 3 months) or can they reduce my salary immediately?  Can I argue I am permanently at that higher grade now as I thought two years made it permanent?

Thanks

Sue

If you "win"* the discussion that this is now your job, as it is going(gone) then that puts you into a redundancy situation.
*that will depend on the contractual terms of the initial secondment and any further changes if it got extended 

Your argument is then the role being offered is not a suitable alternative.



 

Beedoo

MalMonroe said:

You could contact acas for some advice - https://www.acas.org.uk/contact

But why not ask if you can have a meeting with your head of department or the person who is in charge?

You said "I also knew it was due to last another 12 months and it hasn’t" - so I'd want to ask why. Is there any reason that your employer can't tell you?

I'd also want to know about the job I'd be returning to - what grade, what pay, etc. 

It's all a bit vague and you do have a right to know, surely?

I once took on an internal secondment on a higher grade with higher pay when I worked in higher education to cover for someone's maternity leave. I was given specific dates and the secondment only lasted the length of the maternity leave. I was also given an official agreement to sign beforehand detailing length of secondment, pay and expected date of the end of the secondment.

To be honest I don't think they know what they intend to do as it is all very unexpected.  There is a lack of clarity who's responsibility my role is as there have been reorganisations since I was seconded.  I was told I was moved under one director, which was her understanding but now one of the executive members is saying I should report elsewhere.  They aren't clear if they need me to continue in my secondment for a period of time or what that would be.  

We did not have a secondment policy when I was seconded, so I didn't get an agreement as such just an email, but it was agreed to last until at least October this year.  I'm just curious as to my rights and what they should be doing so I can hold them to account for it.

Good news is another director has approached me about a role in his area he thinks I'd be perfect for, so maybe I will have moved on before they work out what they want to do!

getmore4less

In situations like this it can be good to have an idea of the pecking order and who has influence up the chain so you know who to schmooze to get what you want.

if you like the job that may be there and that director is prepared to bat for you and has the right place in the pecking order they can grab you for the job while the other just play pass the parcel.
If you know and have the ear of the next level you can help make it happen

Beedoo

getmore4less said:

In situations like this it can be good to have an idea of the pecking order and who has influence up the chain so you know who to schmooze to get what you want.

if you like the job that may be there and that director is prepared to bat for you and has the right place in the pecking order they can grab you for the job while the other just play pass the parcel.
If you know and have the ear of the next level you can help make it happen

Fair point and the good news is that it looks like I may be offered two jobs on the current salary after all. A member of exec called me this week to say they’d look after me :-)