Rationalisation of company contracts

[Ronaldinhio]

My contract is to be rationalised...? We bought another company and the decision has been made to rationalise all contracts so that everyone is on the same contract terms

the thing is that some of the new terms are significantly worse and I don't want to agree to them
I've been with the company many, many years and receive perks because of that and they are removing those perks so that all employees are the same

What can I do?

anyone...?

Give us a minute!

You'll have to go through consultation (assuming its not a small company).

They will offer you (and everyone else) a new contract which you can either accept or reject.

If you reject it you are likley to be made redundant, however you possibly won't get a pay out.

It is possible for companies to offer new contracts that are worse than what you are currently on by stating business need as the justification - though a lot depends on what you currently get and what you stand to get.

Making you lose £20k a year salary for the same job then its probably not justifiable. If you are being asked to lose 15mins a day pay as they are changing the hours slightly then you won't really be able to fight it.

What are the main differences?

This is happening where I work, we've had an announcement that where terms are going to be less attractive than currently there will be some financial compensation.
What this entails we do not know yet but I suppose it is something, however for me my holiday is very valuable therefore if I lose some of my allocation, paying me more will not make up for it really.

Good luck with it all,

ML

As Seeyoukay says, the potential to contest depends on the nature/value of the differences. It can also depend on size of company. Larger ones will try to equalise the terms to some extent but usually with a shorter term liability than existing ts and cs if they're too costly to plan for. Small companies aren't always in a position to do so. It may be that rather than actually trying to 'lose' people on old ts and cs you will be offered the option to be a 'decliner' and stay on your current contract. This would only apply to your current role however, if you go for a promotion / transfer or whatever then you would be required to accept new ts and cs at the same time. Obviously it may be worth it at that point for the new role. Alternatively, if you see yourself finishing your career at that employer in your current role, it may be a good option anyway.

thanks for your replies

why wouldn't I get a redundancy pay out?
wrongly, it would seem, I thought that I had to agree to the terms of my contract being changed to my detriment

as an example they are slashing the sickness pay from 20 days paid to three and ssp
I have recurring illness that they were aware of before my employment and subsequently since

they are changing the notice periods

work hours

removing free health insurance

requesting a right to search staff if drug use is considered???

are my options really accept the new contract or accept that I will have to leave and start all over again?

The starting point is that an employer cannot change your terms and conditions of employment without your consent. Even if there is a clause in the contract that states the employer has the right to vary terms, this can be difficult for it to rely on, and any changes have to be reasonable (and generally consultation needs to take place- this may be mandatory if 20+ employees are affected and the employer intends to dismiss and re-hire if no agreement is reached- see below).

If consent is not given but the employer imposes the changes anyway you have a claim for breach of contract. However, the 'proper' route for the employer is to dismiss you and offer you a new contract with the new terms as mentioned above. You can then either accept the new contract and continue working, or you can refuse it, in which case your employer may dismiss you. You would potentially have a claim for unfair dismissal- to defend this the employer would need to be able to argue that they dismissed you for a substantial reason after following a reasonable procedure. Essentially this means they need to have extremely good reasons for the chnages (it can't just be a whim and they need to have followed a thorough and meaningful consultation). An unfair dismissal claim is not a great option- compensation is capped at around £65,000, but the actual amount awarded would be your actual net losses (so you would have to give credit for any earnigns from new employment). Given that legal fees are generally not recoverable you would normally be out of pocket even if you won, unless the employer settled first 9which they may eb reluctant to do if a number of employees bring a claim for fear of setting a precedent).

The consultation process is vital. If most of the workforce refuse to accept the changes then they may back down as they know in the back of their minds that they ultimately need the support of the workforce. The consultation process is a good time for negotiation on the changes too- so the employee reps may well be able to get a better deal.

Often you will see that companies offer financial inducements to employees to enter into the new contract. Those that choose not to agree to the new terms stay on their old term but don't get the financial inducement (or, for example, will not get a salary rise).

Hope this helps.

Not sure how redundancy came into it? Whether or not your job is redundant has nothing to do with whether you accept new terms and conditions.

You can refuse to accept the new conditions, yes. They need to consult properly but once they've done that, if people still refuse as 510 says, they may either back down, or offer incentives, or dismiss you and reengage you on the new terms. It will then be up to you to claim unfair dismissal which may be tricky if they've consulted properly and can demonstrate good business reasons for the change.

Acting together would be a good idea, so if you have any kind of representative forum, that's the opportunity to decide together on a response, and on anything you may all request as a 'buy-out' for some/all or these benefits.