To not sign the contract

[yoghurttops]

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.

What "bits" do you think they can realistically change?

To be fair, if you went down to 1 day a week before Mat leave, then were out of the business for a year, and have come back only doing 1 day, you probably are becoming dispensable to them.

They’ve had to adapt around you and your absence, and find people to pick up the slack and the requirements of the role.

You can ask them to review whatever aspects of the new contract that you’re unhappy with, but they’re within their rights to say no if it doesn’t meet business needs.

If you’re not in a union I’d make an appointment with an employment law solicitor.

You don’t have to accept lower pay or a material change to your job description, and should ask for a clear business case as to why they’re proposing both. Some of the new clauses are not unreasonable per se. If you are only working one day a week then your role will necessarily have changed and it’s reasonable that they’ve recruited other team members, including a manager. If the team structure has materially changed then it’s not a demotion for you to no longer report into the CEO. If you think your colleagues aren’t performing well then that’s a separate HR issue.

Ask, but they might say no. If you don't sign it but continue ue to work there, it is my understanding that your agreement to the terms of the contract are implied. But someone qualified/more knowledgeable would need to confirm.

Sorry but if you work one day a week you are not an important member of the team.

You work one day a week - you say that realise the job function is important and have decided it cannot be achieved by one person working one day week so they have a need for other people to contribute. You say they are useless but they will learn. The work you suggested needs to be done by someone and they have deemed that it cannot be done in one day week so have asked someone else to do it.

I assume the person you report to is a full time worker, you cannot expect a supervisory position when you work one day a week

You cannot expect to report the the CEO when you work one day w week.

Again as you work 1 day a week you need to be flexible and fill in and do what is required.

Of course you earn less money you are in a less responsible role.

If you have changed to work 1 day a week you do
Or you can leave
If you work one day a week they probably could easily make you redundant honestly you are not terribly important to the business now
I have my own business I would consider a person who works `1 day a week to be very dispensable

This. You are one step away from being a freelancer.

You're working one day a week at your own request which I'm amazed they allowed tbh. Either way, you've made yourself completely dispensible so you've no room to say anything.

Call acas

No do not waste your time

When if you don’t sign it and say nothing but continue working, you are deemed to have accepted the terms of the contract so you need to do something.

You can’t line manage a team if you work one day a week

you can’t really report to the CEO if you work one day a week and there are other comms people

Even if the other comms people aren’t much good the fact they’re there more than one day a week makes them less dispensible than you are.

You don’t really have a leg to stand on. One day a week isn’t really a huge amount of use to anyone and you can’t really contribute to the wider organisation as you’re only available one day a week

Are other people in the office at times? One day a week and only from home makes you less useful I’m afraid,

It’s not really possible for someone who works one day a week to hold any power. They have to resolve this problem somehow.

you can refuse to sign of course- would it not make more sense just to resign now? There doesn’t seem to be anything you like about the situation so getting out seems healthy.

why not ask if you can contract for them 1 day a week instead? They lose the risk of having an employee, you keep the status quo until you can get back into FT work

You seem to be under the impression that you are more important than you are tbh , working one day a week is ridiculous and absolutely would not be tolerated in my life of work

If you’re only there one day a week, surely you can’t expect to have a more supervisory role over someone who’s there 5 days a week.
You can refuse to sign the contract if you want but you have to be realistic. One of the risks you take when you’re working very very part time is that you accept many others have to do your work so they can easily let you go as others are doing your work already. If you choose to resign, know there’s not really a new place of work where you’ll start and ask to work 1 day a week so you might just have to suck it up whilst looking for something else

I agree with this. You've shown no interest in the company or commitment to the job, why should they show any in you? You're lucky to still have a job, suck it up.

And don't waste money on a solicitor, they're not doing anything unreasonable, you are.

Well they’ve not recruited new team members. They’ve moved 2 people into my role, despite me asking to do the extra days at the beginning of the year. Essentially they’ve replaced me with 2 other employees and this was only a few months ago.

When I was on mat leave I had a replacement, who left when I joined. They kept my role going at the bare minimum but now my role is significant - I posted earlier that o had to create a whole strategy on just 1 day a week. There were a few weeks I worked overtime but they didn’t pay, I just had to take those days in Lieu which meant more days off and so weeks where I’m “not in”.

I feel like I’m being chased out to be fair. But the 2 employees that are “doing my job” don’t know what they are doing and they keep giving me the work, then presenting it as their own.

I am the only comms person.

it’s a very small company so everyone is highly specialised at what they do and there is only 1 person per role. The 2 people that have “formed my team” know nothing about comms - keep making mistakes that I end up fixing on my 1 day.

They specialise in operations, but there was abit of a disaster with one of their projects so they’ve been moved from that project, and are now doing abit of everything.

Not sure if I’m explaining it properly. It is abit of an internal mess.

I did not request 1 day a week.

Before I went on Mat leave the CEo said they are having budget issues and asked me if I’d like to do 1 day.

I wasn’t in a great state of mind so said yes.

Now that I’ve come back from Mat leave I asked them if I could increase my days. They said no. But throughout the year the board have asked why they don’t increase my hours instead of wasting money on agencies that are doing nothing (which I’ve had to manage on my 1 day).

I actually love my job. I also freelance and they benefit a lot from my knowledge from my freelance work. So I know I’m an asset.

Just wanted to get thoughts as I am willing to do more days and have put a plan together, which they love. I’d obviously love to implement it but can’t on just 1 day.

Anyway I am job hunting. So hopefully something comes up soon.

I think you shot yourself massively in the foot by accepting 1 day a week. The job obviously couldn't be done in that time. They knew or found out quickly and you must have known from the beginning and went along with it.
They found 2 people who are happy to do the role FT or as job share?
These people are already employed, so not an extra cost.

They might make mistakes now, but they will learn from you and then your 7.5 / 8 hours will be redundant.

Only suggestion I have is try pregnant and screwed to see if you have a leg to stand on as they are clearly pushing you out.

It sounds like a complete shambles, OP. You're doing the right thing getting out of there. Good luck with your job search.

If you were discontent with any aspect if the contract you shpumd have raised it with them at the time instead of just 'not signing'.

Are there any employment lawyers on here? They

If the other people rely on you and are paid more than you pro rata, bring it up, prove it to them. Or offer to work freelance for them.