DH’s company were acquired by another company a year and a half ago. Earlier this year they issued an ‘alignment letter’ saying that they would be issuing new contracts outlining seven clauses which they were planning to change. The letter ended saying that if you had any questions you should address them to your manager and asked him to sign to accept a new contract. It then asked him to return the letter within 3 weeks. DH had two questions 1) was signing this letter a contractual change and 2) the letter said that overtime would no longer be paid as it was their policy to manage staff cover in such a way that employees do not have to ordinarily work more than their contractual hours. DH discussed this with his manger – 1) no signing this is not a contractual change, you will be issued with a new contract in due course, 2) “don’t even get me started on overtime, no they won’t be doing it anymore, no idea how I’m going to manage staff cover”. As it happens due to the nature of DH’s job overtime had never been applicable to DH before. At the same time as being given the letter his manager gave him a CD. He put the CD in our computer at home, it made a grinding noise and switched off, it wouldn’t turn on for the rest of the night. The next day DH asked his manager for another copy of the CD, explaining what had happened. She said “when I get a chance”. She did not stress any importance about the CD, or volunteer what was on it, to him it was just a CD. He asked again at some point for the CD but she was too busy and said she would get it when she got a moment. The CD never transpired.
A few weeks ago DH was given the copy of his new contract (he was asked to sign it and return it by the end of the week). The contract has over 30 different changes it (it is even incomplete in once place), only 7 of which he was consulted on. DH raised this with HR who have been quite firm that he signed the letter and therefore he agreed to it, regardless of what has happened. As a courtesy they met with him to discuss the changes so that he could understand the contract but that is as far as they are willing to go. One of the major things is that the new contract clearly states that should overtime be needed that he would have to work at weekends and that this has been taken into account with his salary. His current contract says that overtime would only been needed in one particular instance (and this instance does not apply due to the nature of his job) with no mention of overtime needing to be worked at weekends. So this is a big change. As it is overtime it also means that it can’t be booked off as holiday. The business is not open on weekends so it would be for things like training which take anything from half a day to a whole day. DH is of course happy to do what is needed to assist his role but the problem is his manager who is very Jekyll and Hyde. An example, a colleague who has signed the contract was told they had to attend training which was taking place on a Saturday. The preceding week the colleague had a week’s holiday booked (Monday – Friday) and the Manager made her come back from holiday to attend the training on the Saturday, saying it was in her contract and that she had given plenty of notice (despite the notice coming months after the holiday was booked). Another example, DH was called to a staff meeting (after work and after his usual working hours), pre contract change he was not needed to attend these meetings (again, due to the nature of his job none of it is relevant to him) but manager would like to take advantage of the new contract and make sure everyone is there. Fine and of course DH would be happy to attend but I couldn’t get the time off work to look after DD. DH explained to his Manager who said “it’s not my problem” and in the end my mum kindly took the time off work. The problem is we had a setup, that worked around our lives and now because the overtime is ad hoc, it makes it difficult to plan or arrange alternative childcare (I can’t change my hours), I’ve recently started a new job and already agreed hours, ironically, to fit around DH’s hours.
It transpires that on the CD was a draft contract and information about a consultation which said that if you wanted one you have to ask for it. At the time of signing the letter, DH had never even heard of a consultation. He has been to-ing and fro-ing with HR who are ignoring the fact that he didn’t have all of the necessary information and basically say suck it up. They say that the letter didn’t have to include every single change and that it’s standard for all companies to do this. I suppose that they feel they provided the draft contract on the CD. It’s just that DH never got the CD and never knew what was on it. If it has any bearing, they have now sent what they ‘say’ was on the CD and looking at the draft contract it’s a bit hopeless and still includes mail merge fields and none of DH’s details. If we have to suck it up then we do. I should mention that there were (nice things) in the letter outlined as a change to the contract, which haven’t actually been included in the contract. DH has now been told that there are just benefits.
We spoke to a solicitor yesterday who said he could send a formal letter saying that he accepts the contract but wishes to remain on the existing clauses x,y,z and explain why. I am concerned that they will just terminate his contract and put him on the new one (and he will then loose his continuous service – 6 years). The solicitor thinks they would need a good business reason to do this and that they do not have one. I should also mention that we have checked and TUPE does not apply.
We’re feeling lost at which way to go. HR are being (quite frankly) horrible and saying that they do not understand what his problem is and that he should go away. If he had a Manager who had more of an understanding about how to be a good Manager (trust me, I have a wealth of examples) or even someone who was understanding that sometimes things need to rearranged then we would not be so concerned. I know that in the grand scheme of things there are bigger problems out there but this is big to us, his Manager can be rotten and we’ve both lost a lot of sleep in the past through the things that she’s done. I know that plenty of people have to work different hours but one of the selling points of this job for DH was that it was good weekday hours. He feels that he’s been duped into signing the letter and that had he been aware of everything on the CD that he would have definitely asked for a consultation and made his concerns clear prior to signing or agreeing to anything. Since this has happened I’ve pretty much stopped sleeping and now very unwell. Please be gentle with me because I am a bit of a wreck at the moment. I apologise if I’ve said too much or waffled on but would appreciate some advice more than you know!