Copy of contract

trovelike

Hello!

The company I work for us merging with another and as a result we are being issued with new contracts and terms of employment, some new terms are good, some not so good.

There is a discrepancy in the new contract and current contract regarding breaks. We current have paid breaks and these will not be honoured in the new contract, nor will we be compensated for them.

I have asked my employer for a copy of my current contract to evidence the current status of breaks but they have informed me that they do not hold a copy of it. I do not have a copy of my contract either (from 2015 when my employment commenced).

Where do I stand with this? Does my employer have to produce my current contract on request? Is it my fault for not having a copy myself?

Any help appreciated!

TBagpuss

Well, ideally both you and they would have kept copies.

However, contracts can also change over time and if the practice was that the breaks were always paid then you can point this out and request that the new contract is amended.

changes to a contract need to be agreed but be aware that you can be bound by the new contract even of you don't sign it, if you continue to show up for work - you can make clear that you are doing so under protest and have not agreed the new contract but check to see exactly what's necessary to avoid being deemed to have accepted it .

You also need to consider whether over all the new contract is acceptable to you - obviously the paid breaks are a positive thing that you don't want to lose, but are there other changes which are positive - you can try to negotiate but you are unlikely to be able to cherry pick the best bits of both. 

trovelike

TBagpuss said:

Well, ideally both you and they would have kept copies.

However, contracts can also change over time and if the practice was that the breaks were always paid then you can point this out and request that the new contract is amended.

changes to a contract need to be agreed but be aware that you can be bound by the new contract even of you don't sign it, if you continue to show up for work - you can make clear that you are doing so under protest and have not agreed the new contract but check to see exactly what's necessary to avoid being deemed to have accepted it .

You also need to consider whether over all the new contract is acceptable to you - obviously the paid breaks are a positive thing that you don't want to lose, but are there other changes which are positive - you can try to negotiate but you are unlikely to be able to cherry pick the best bits of both. 

Thanks for that and some good points in there, I’m hoping they will have to produce a copy of my original contract and therefore I’ll be able to prove breaks are indeed in my contract

Grumpy_chap

trovelike said:

Hello!

The company I work for us merging with another and as a result we are being issued with new contracts and terms of employment, some new terms are good, some not so good.

There is a discrepancy in the new contract and current contract regarding breaks. We current have paid breaks and these will not be honoured in the new contract, nor will we be compensated for them.

I have asked my employer for a copy of my current contract to evidence the current status of breaks but they have informed me that they do not hold a copy of it. I do not have a copy of my contract either (from 2015 when my employment commenced).

Where do I stand with this? Does my employer have to produce my current contract on request? Is it my fault for not having a copy myself?

Any help appreciated!

Ideally, you would have a copy of the contract.  

Regardless, the way to look at this is to list all the changes positive and negative side by side.
Then assess the overall impact and whether the overall value is the same, better or worse than the current contract.
Once you have that, take a view as to whether to accept the contract, or to challenge.

Are you in a Union?
What will happen if you do not accept the new contract?

trovelike

Grumpy_chap said:

trovelike said:

Hello!

The company I work for us merging with another and as a result we are being issued with new contracts and terms of employment, some new terms are good, some not so good.

There is a discrepancy in the new contract and current contract regarding breaks. We current have paid breaks and these will not be honoured in the new contract, nor will we be compensated for them.

I have asked my employer for a copy of my current contract to evidence the current status of breaks but they have informed me that they do not hold a copy of it. I do not have a copy of my contract either (from 2015 when my employment commenced).

Where do I stand with this? Does my employer have to produce my current contract on request? Is it my fault for not having a copy myself?

Any help appreciated!

Ideally, you would have a copy of the contract.  

Regardless, the way to look at this is to list all the changes positive and negative side by side.
Then assess the overall impact and whether the overall value is the same, better or worse than the current contract.
Once you have that, take a view as to whether to accept the contract, or to challenge.

Are you in a Union?
What will happen if you do not accept the new contract?

Not in a union, if we don’t sign, we essentially won’t be employed anymore. It was made clear that it would not be redundancy. 

Like I say, it’s more the request of the contract I need advice on, the positive / negative elements roughly cancel each other out

Penguin_

Are they merging to form a new business identify? 

Marcon

trovelike said:

Grumpy_chap said:

trovelike said:

Hello!

The company I work for us merging with another and as a result we are being issued with new contracts and terms of employment, some new terms are good, some not so good.

There is a discrepancy in the new contract and current contract regarding breaks. We current have paid breaks and these will not be honoured in the new contract, nor will we be compensated for them.

I have asked my employer for a copy of my current contract to evidence the current status of breaks but they have informed me that they do not hold a copy of it. I do not have a copy of my contract either (from 2015 when my employment commenced).

Where do I stand with this? Does my employer have to produce my current contract on request? Is it my fault for not having a copy myself?

Any help appreciated!

Ideally, you would have a copy of the contract.  

Regardless, the way to look at this is to list all the changes positive and negative side by side.
Then assess the overall impact and whether the overall value is the same, better or worse than the current contract.
Once you have that, take a view as to whether to accept the contract, or to challenge.

Are you in a Union?
What will happen if you do not accept the new contract?

Not in a union, if we don’t sign, we essentially won’t be employed anymore. It was made clear that it would not be redundancy. 

Like I say, it’s more the request of the contract I need advice on, the positive / negative elements roughly cancel each other out

If they haven't got a copy, they haven't got a copy - so they can't supply it. End of story!

thebrexitunicorn

If the merger is covered by TUPE there shouldn’t be any change to your contract.  Have they mentioned TUPE?