Thread: form a 16 hour contract to a zero hour contract

hi i need some advice

before the 1st of jan this year i was on a 16 hour contract but working about 40 hours a week but then got told by the area manager that because of currert situation i would have to reduce my hours to zero or get laid off and i agree to go to zero hours but the thing is i havent signed a new contract to say that im zero hours and iv just recently had a week off on holiday but the manager doesnt know how to put this through on the wages as never had anybody on a zero hour contract before. Can someone give me some advice please

thanks gav

Originally Posted by sonicback

hi i need some advice

before the 1st of jan this year i was on a 16 hour contract but working about 40 hours a week but then got told by the area manager that because of currert situation i would have to reduce my hours to zero or get laid off and i agree to go to zero hours but the thing is i havent signed a new contract to say that im zero hours and iv just recently had a week off on holiday but the manager doesnt know how to put this through on the wages as never had anybody on a zero hour contract before. Can someone give me some advice please

thanks gav

There is no such thing as a zero hour contract. On what contractual basis can they demand this? It sounds like they are trying to make you redundant.

Originally Posted by Sidewinder

Simply not true - where on earth did you get that idea? Zero hours contracts are widespread and exist extensively in environments where the actual amount of work cannot be guaranteed. They remove much of the mutuality of obligation meaning that as much as the employer is not obliged to offer work, the employee may equally reject it if inconvenient.

I agree that the employer might be laying off the OP by degrees, and when offered the new contract perhaps should not have signed it, for it may impact on other entitlements (not least redundancy pay if it comes to it and he/she is eligible through length of service). Nevertheless the contract has already been changed by agreement, and the question was about holiday entitlement.

Well I am amazed. I have worked in many different industries and my wife has worked in recruitment and we had not come across a zero-hour contract. If the hours or contract terms vary then this is usually captured within the contract as a clause. There would be great difficulty imposing any of the other provisions of the contract if the employer states that the contract hours are zero since there is potentially no consideration.