Advice Please...hours being cut

[MrsFruitcake]

Work 20 hours a week for one guy - 5 hours for his consultancy business and 15 for the other business we are both employed by, he's my boss in both businesses. He wants me to drop the 5 hours a week for his own business leaving me with 15, which isn't enough (which he knew, and has been promising me more hours since Christmas, not less). He's given me 4 weeks notice of the change but wants to pay me to drop the hours with immediate effect.

Where do I stand on this? Is this not redundancy?

How long have you been employed by the relevant business?

A year this month for both businesses.

If you are employed by two different businesses it sounds like he is either dismissing you or reducing your hours to zero for the consultancy business. You will need to ask him to clarify which.

Assuming he is dismissing you rather than wanting to move you to effectively a zero hours contract for that business, then yes technically you are redundant from that business however as you've been there such a short time, you are only entitled to notice, not to any redundancy pay or procedure or anything.

Moving you to a zero hours contract would be a change to your terms and conditions which technically requires your consent, however if the alternative is dismissal, you may prefer to do that anyway - either way, as long as you get notice, there's not a lot you can do.

Clarify with him about whether it's a dismissal from the consultancy business employment, and make sure you get the proper notice.

Thanks for that flowery, am now clear.

One question which arises from this is whether it's constructive dismissal from my 15 hours for the other company as he knew I needed more hours and I have been honest about my need to fill the 5 hours being cut. It does feel as though I am being forced out.

In the letter he sent, he states he is happy to help with references and time off for interviews. He must know that the loss of 5 hours could impact the other business?

No, dismissing you from one employment isn't constructive dismissal from the other employment. They are unrelated. The fact that your employer/manager happens to be the same person for both companies doesn't give the 15 hour company more responsibility in terms of what happens in the 5 hour company, and the fact that you want 20 hours total and the 15 hour company doesn't give you all of that isn't their problem I'm afraid. The 15 hour company isn't doing anything wrong.

In any case, you can't claim constructive dismissal until you've got two years' service.