proposal to change my contract from 35 to 25 hours

[harrymarry]

hi ever one !

my company has proposed to reduce my hours from 35 to 25. the reason is to reduce wastage.

i have worked for the company 9+ years.

we are 4 full time staff and 7 part time staff. when i started work at this company, we were 3 full time and 1 part time staff. our duties were receptionist, meet and greet.

The company employs now 4+7 =11 staff in total doing the above job. We all working for the same company and branch, at BMW

the manager has proposed for me and other 1 person called janet to reduce our 35 hrs to 25 each. the other 2 full timer, no changes.

when i asked y , he said that joo is works in different dept so it does not effect her, and for elli he said she has worked 11+ years , so it does not effect her.

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change in terms and conditions of employment:

the company reserves the right to amend / alter your term and conditions of employment to meet business needs and accordance with changes in employment legislation.

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my question?

(1) does the manager has write to reduce my hours on the ground of “reduce wastage” ?

(2) there is no other clause on my contract, that will allow him to do that, apart from the above.

(3) he has not reduced any hours for the other 2 full times , doing same job i do. Can the manager do that??

(3b) the girl who has done 11+years service , there is no change, so Y is it, there is a change on me, when I have done 9+ years service. ?

(3c) The 2 part timers been there less that 2year, just reduced 5 hours a week each. Could he not sack them. The mistake the manager has done is that he has employed 1 too many part timer’s.

(4) and also reduce 5 hours each for 2 part timer and increase 2.5 hours for 3rd part timers after the second meeting with him. No such a change to me considering I am going to loss 29% of my income. Can he do that ???

(5) is the manger write to say that joo doing the same job does 45+ hours, does not be considered to reduction in hours as she works in the different department. Even though we mend her desk during lunch hour.

(6) Before the changes about a year a go, we all receptionist use to do rotas on job describe in (5). Is it possible to bring this argument at a tribunal?

(7) out of 200 staff at my branch, he is saving between 20 and 22.5 hours. He could have done cuts on “over lay” all staff, were feasible to part time and save the company hours, is it not possible to also bring this argument to a tribunal

 

any help will be appreciated.

[SabreSheep]

Essentially yes

 

He can issue notice of the change

If you do not accept he can then issue notice to dismiss you and then offer to reemploy you on the new terms.

 

It would then be up to you to fight an unlawful/constructive dismissal case.

[harrymarry]

thank u for the prompt reply.

 

there is 1 situation that puzzles me.

 

that is 10 receptionist working in the department, the manager has at his discretion to take hours from me ( 10 hours a week from me ) and i have worked 9+ years

and give 5 hours to another receptionist who has work 8+ years. so i do 25hours and she now does 30 hours a week.

can he do that,

and if i take him to a tribunal, will he have feet to stand on?

[SabreSheep]

Do you do the same job as the receptionist?

 

What are your differences between you and the receptionist?

 

Job role?

Gender?

Any other protected characteristic under the equlity act.

 

If you have different job roles then it would be needs of the business. If for example you did JOB A and receptionist does JOB B and demand for job A has fallen but demand for job B has increased it could be seen as a realistic needs of the business.

 

IF you both do the exact same job and there is a gender difference (Or some other protected characteristic) then there *might* be avenues to explore

[harrymarry]

thank u for ur prompt reply, so much appreciated.

 

me and her do the same job, if new proposal goes a head, i will work 8 to 1 and she will work 12 to 6.

currently i work 8 to 4. and she works 1 to 6.

there is also another girl, is working 1:30 to 6 , on new proposal she will take over 1 to 6.

all of as do identical/ same work.

 

also what chance do i stand if i decide 2 take the company to tribunal , with all or some of the points, i mentioned above.

[SabreSheep]

Def worth investigating.

you would need ot formulate a greivence before anything else.

Await others input. Emmzi s normally around and good on employment stuff

[harrymarry]

ok cool.

SabreSheep, i greatly appreciate ur prompt reply. god bless u and ur family.

 

i will wait for emmzi reply. Is there a way on here, so that i can bring this to his attention?

 

thank you and have a nice day

regards

harish

[citizenB]

ok cool.

SabreSheep, i greatly appreciate ur prompt reply. god bless u and ur family.

 

i will wait for emmzi reply. Is there a way on here, so that i can bring this to his attention?

 

thank you and have a nice day

regards

harish

 

Most of the advisors including emmzzi have day jobs, so I am afraid, you will need to be a little patient

[SabreSheep]

I sent Emmzzi a pm with a link to this thread.

[ericsbrother]

I smell a rat but if the correct notice/consultation is carried out it can be done. It could be favouritsm or it could be a hweeze to cut the company NI contributions by juggling hours and thus pay to fit into a different NI threshold. Is there something going on between boss and other receptionist I wonder?

[Emmzzi]

Hi, it's fair enough that only your department is considered... are you in a union? This is exactly the sort of situation they are helpful in! As it stands, I'm struggling to see anything illegal.

[becky2585]

Does your contract expressly state that you work 35 hours per week?

 

If so, it's not as easy for them to change your terms as some of the PPs may think. The basic legal position is that an employees contract cannot be varied without their consent - and if 35 hours is what your contract states, you can quite validly refuse to reduce your hours. If they impose the change anyway then you would have a breach of contract claim which could theoretically go on to reflect indefinite losses (and the ET can order that you are reinstated to your previous terms if the company decide to dismiss and re engage - if other people aren't affected who do a substantially similar role then I can't see that being lawful).

[billathome65]

thank u for the prompt reply.

 

there is 1 situation that puzzles me.

 

that is 10 receptionist working in the department, the manager has at his discretion to take hours from me ( 10 hours a week from me ) and i have worked 9+ years

and give 5 hours to another receptionist who has work 8+ years. so i do 25hours and she now does 30 hours a week.

 

As far as I am aware it has to be reasonable and fair.( Is this an organization wide restructure or just your boss deciding he wants to do X Y to save on the wage budget ) if the latter I'm sure there is a breach of contract angle you can go at as this is not an agreed organization wide process. ( I'm not sure though )

 

Your contract states your terms and conditions can be changed to meet the needs of the business so effectively yes he can issue new terms and conditions. Yet it has to be reasonable and jointly agreed if you do not agree with this then you have the right to start a grievance, however try to rectify the issue informally first

 

If he is reducing your hours and passing more hours to another member of staff at your detriment this is clearly unreasonable and needs to be addressed. If your hours state 35 hours there has to be a consultation period to discuss alternatives that will retain the hours obviously by reducing your hours and increasing another that is totally unreasonable.

 

If your manager is restructuring in order to save cost a question to ask yourself, are you on a higher wage than the other receptionist if so you could argue discrimination. also are the changes unfairly impacting your previous earning whilst benefiting other staff members?

 

If the hours are available to increase another colleagues hours why could they not have split these hours between you and the other colleague who's loosing hours to?

 

If your in a union I would advise you take this to them and if you have what do they say If your not in a union I would advise you take this to ACAS as in my opinion this is not a reasonable situation.

 

Bill

[Emmzzi]

it looks to me like they are trying to improve lunch cover without a need to give breaks (less than 6 hours.) Hence the moving of hours?

[harrymarry]

hi all,

 

thanks for help from all of u.

i am a member of a union, i have now told them about it.

 

will let u know what the out come is.

 

best regards

harry.

[honeybee13]

Hello Harry.

 

Thank you for the update, it would be great to know what the outcome is.

 

Good luck.

 

HB