Full time hours reduced to part time by employer

[EauDeChlorine]

Hi All, was hoping to get some advise. My employer has sent me an email saying that the agree to reduce my hours to 3 days per week super “my request”.. ??

This is not what happened. I had a meeting with them last week and was told that due to the workload being reduced they are changing my hours to part time I/e Mon/Wed/Thursday. I have no choice in the matter... what now? Are there any organisations where I can get advise?

Many thanks

That doesn't sound right - it sounds a bit as though they may have used a template letter and not amended it properly, but I would be replying immediately to clarify that you have made no request to reduce hours, and your understanding of the meeting was this was a compulsory reduction on instruction from management, which you do not agree to. It's important you are not seen as willingly agreeing to this.

Then yes, I would seek advice asap. Have you worked there for more than 2 years? If not there may not be much you can do but still worth checking. Are you a member of a trade union? If so they are the best place to start, if not you could try ACAS, citizens advice or an employment solicitor. Make sure you get out your contract/terms and conditions of employment and see what it says about your hours of work as this will be very important to whether you have any kind of comeback - does it specify certain hours/days of work and does it give the employer the right to unilaterally vary these? I assume they are proposing to reduce your pay accordingly rather than continue to pay a full time salary but only expect you to work 3 days? In law a 'significant' reduction in hours could potentially count as a redundancy so they may need to pay you compensation - but only if you've worked there more than 2 years...

There are procedures they need to go through if you have worked there more than 2 years. For example we had to put a couple of people on short time working or temporarily lay them off due to a reduction in work. We had to pay Guarantee Pay of £29 per day for any days they were on short time. If it's for longer than 4 weeks in a row or 6 weeks in any 13 week period you may be entitled to redundancy.

Thanks fir the advise. I have been here just under 3 years. This email wasn’t a draft.

Sorry if this sounds blunt. Can’t be seen to use my phone as my break is finished. Will respond in more detail later. Thanks again.

Really appreciate it.

Phone acas.

We're just moving this over to employment issues for the OP.

I got home and still trying to make sense of it all. I came in to work today to an email saying that:

As per your previous request for part time hours , I am happy to inform you that as of 1st August this will now come into effect.

Along with your requests for part time, it is obvious that this now suits the business as XYZ works have dropped quite dramatically and this is the contract that you manage. We all agreed that your role was now not a justified full time role.

//

It is true that I had asked for my hours to be reduced or changed. We moved office 14 months ago. The commute to our old office was pretty straightforward. The new office on the other hand is a daily battle. The traffic is horrendous. I had therefore asked to change my hours 7.30 to 4pm or keep the 8.30 start but have a 4pm finish. The office manager who lives close to me had changed her own hours also. Unfortunately my request to change my hours was not allowed. The reason I’m explaining this is that in my opinion said request is not asking for 3 days per week. It is also true that we discussed that the contract I deal with has slowed down. In fact it was me who asked if there was anything extra I could take on.

I think that they are just trying to get rid of me to be honest and they are looking for a cheap way to do so.

I have tried to call Acas but it was too late by the time I left work. According to what is in my contract they can reduce my hours but have to give reasonable notice. I don’t think 4 days is all that much tbh.

I don’t think there is a way back from this or AIBU and a tad emotional? I’m going to need another job aren’t I? Maybe I should just keep my head down and use the days I’m not working to find another job? On the other hand I don’t want to accept that the 3 day week was my idea as A) it isn't true and B) I don’t think I it is very nice of them.

Thank you for reading sorry it’s long.

It sounds like the wording of the email isn’t entirely reflective of the discussion, but it sounds like you didn’t want to continue your old hours anyway, and that you also agree there is no longer enough work.

What outcome would you like?

You could argue that the diminished need for your role means you are redundant, therefore entitled to redundancy pay, but do you want that? They’d argue that because your contract gives them the right to reduce your hours, it isn’t a redundancy situation. They’d also argue that you wanted fewer hours.

If you want more notice of the change, how much notice do you want, and are you prepared to continue with your old hours in the meantime?

I think there is no relation between asking to work one hour less every day I/e reduce the working week with 5 hrs compared to going down to 3 days per week.

I also think it’s a tad unreasonable to be given 4 working days notice and just by email. I have no details such as pro-rata holidays, pay etc. I just want events recorded as they have unfolded and not what they have fabricated. I’m struggling to put something on paper that states that the 3 day week was their idea and due to business reasons and to do it in a “nice” way in case I need a reference from them. I think the way forward is to use the 2 days that i’m not working to attend interviews and do some job hunting. Hopefully turn this whole saga in to something positive.

Thanks again for the comments. Greatly appreciated.

”I think there is no relation between asking to work one hour less every day I/e reduce the working week with 5 hrs compared to going down to 3 days per week.”

There is, in the sense that you opened discussions about reducing hours- you said you didn’t want to stay on your existing hours so they took that opportunity to review completely and get what they want.

”I also think it’s a tad unreasonable to be given 4 working days notice and just by email.” I agree 4 working days notice isn’t sufficient. Email is fine.

” I have no details such as pro-rata holidays, pay”

This isn’t on.

I suggest writing back putting an accurate version of the conversation, and saying you are unable to agree the proposed change to your contractual hours unless and until you have confirmation of the impact on your holiday entitlement and pay, and also cannot agree it with such short notice.

Thank you all for the advice. Greatly appreciated. I will have a go at drafting a response later this afternoon ready to send tomorrow morning. Really dreading Monday. Thanks again. 💐