Change of employment terms

[BananaAndApple]

I'm after some advice please. Deliberately vague but hopefully makes sense.

Team A – which has 8 people in who do job function X need to have someone working each evening and weekend day – which they do on a rota basis. They receive a lieu day for weekend days worked, but not for evenings (which entails a 10pm finish – after a full 8-5 day in the office) Not on call, but actually working in case that makes a difference.

Team B – which also has 8 people who do job function Y have been told that they need to support – on a permanent basis – job function X. Meaning that they will now be included in the rota for evening and weekend work. There was no consultation, or chance to opt out – these are your new work terms.

Do Team B (which I am guessing you’ve figured out by now I am a member of) have any choice in the matter? I didn’t sign up to work weekends or evenings and it isn’t in my contract, unlike Team A, or do job function X which isn’t my skillset.

I’ve been at the company over six years if that has a bearing.

My contract was changed 4 years ago, after me working somewhere for 7 years. When I looked into it I was told that the business can change contract but that they must give one weeks notice for each year worked before starting the changes. so, I needed only to be given 7 weeks notice, and then that was it!

There may be a flexibility clause in your contract that covers this. If there isn't, this sounds like a change of contract. Your employer must explain the reasons for the change and put the change in writing (this could be an email). If you carry on working, you will be viewed as having accepted the change. You can avoid this if you make it clear that you are working under protest. If you want to go down this route, you need to tell your employer that you do not agree to the change, you are working under protest and that you may need to take legal action if your concerns are not resolved. Your other option is to resign and claim constructive dismissal, but such claims are hard to win. You should take legal advice before going down this route - if you have legal cover with your home insurance, they may be able to help.

As prh said, you need to raise this immediately. You are unable to accept the change to your contracted hours (even if they're not written down, they are habitual working conditions).

I did this and they just backed down in the end.

What does your contract actually say?

My contract has weekly hours, but not times. This new change will take us above that.

Employers have to have a consultation period and transition notice when making changes like this. If the whole of Team B respond to the consultation saying "this is unacceptable, we will all resign" then the company may rethink. However, they would be entirely within the law to then make the whole of Team B redundant and recruit a new team with the terms and conditions that work for the business. Doing this legally is a slow process but it can happen. More usually, there is a consultation period and then yes the changes happen, with enough notice that you can hand in your notice and leave before the new terms kick in. If you don't want to resign then you have to accept it. If you resign and are sufficiently valuable that they don't want to lose you, then they may reconsider.

Given that the company are already breaking working time directive for team A, I doubt they’ll give a shit about team B having to cover.

Given that the company are already breaking working time directive for team A, I doubt they’ll give a shit about team B having to cover.

Given that the company are already breaking working time directive for team A, I doubt they’ll give a shit about team B having to cover.

I’d go to an acas and ask them.