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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not sign the contract

28 replies

yoghurttops · 04/12/2025 10:00

I work 1 day a week. I agreed to cut my hours before I went off to mat leave, but I realised that I was going through bad prenatal depression and wanted to be at home so I agreed to going from 3 days to 1 day.

Now that I am back (I’m 1 year in), I realised it was a silly discussion. I did ask for extra hours but they said no.

They are realising the value of my role now (I’ve had to scream and shout about why comms is important - and 1 year of doing the bare minimum whilst I was on mat leave has made them realise my role brought in leads and awareness of the company!)

So I was given an updated contract last month. According to them the change is who I report to and confirming I work from home so I can claim expenses … but it is significantly different to my previous contract

  1. They have shared my role with 2 other people in the team. Both are clueless and rely on me. But yet one has become my manager and the other is doing a lot of the work I suggested
  2. It’s a demotion as my line manager has changed from CEO to manager
  3. They have removed my job description/responsibilities and have made it weaker so I could be doing anything
  4. Pay has gone down by £1000

A few more things that make me dispensable and shows my role has been downgraded.

I’m not part of a union. Work in the charity sector. I have been job hunting for a year + with no luck (interviews but don’t get the job - feedback is always I couldn't have done anything different but other candidates are that tiny bit stronger).

They are pressuring me to sign the contract but I’m struggling to know what to do next as I have stalled it (I mean it’s not that hard to do when your next working day is a week away).

AIBu for not signing it? Can I make a counter offer. Or ask them to change some bits.

OP posts:
VWT7 · 05/12/2025 20:34

Longer term, your position maybe has potential to become stronger - if either of the other 2 co-workers, (with less knowledge than you), had a reason to leave…
(if they failed on a previous project and are now making errors in this role….?)

VWT7 · 05/12/2025 20:36

You could also draft your own (reasonable) amended paragraphs in the contract to suit your requirements - and see if the company would accept them?

ThistleTits · 06/12/2025 17:33

@yoghurttops sign for now. It will look better for potential employers if you are doing more hours.

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