No contract of employment

antoswords

Hi Guys

Just looking for some advice here. I currently work for a small company who are about to be taken over by a multi-national company. The thing is, all employees of my company do not have a contract of employment. I know the new company are aware of this and are in the process of putting this right.

My question is, can they totally disregard the conditions we currently have (not that they are particulary great) and just make us sign the new contracts with whatever conditions they want to put in it.

We are also no unionised, if that makes a difference.

Any info greatly appreciated guys!

Thoie

From past experience, yes they can. However if they're a large multi-national, then their terms probably won't be unreasonable. I've no idea what kind of industry you're in, but what you might find are cutbacks on things like overtime (if you got paid overtime).

I think the best thing would be to sit down as a group (if the company is small enough to make this feasible) and work out what your normal conditions are. Then look at each one critically and see if it's genuinely reasonable, as opposed to "the way we've always done it".

Start off with the simple stuff of what time you arrive, when do you finish, what kind of hours do you have for lunch breaks, tea breaks etc. If everyone is currently downing tools at 10:30 for half an hour or so, that might not necessarily be reasonable. Are people currently on flexitime? Are there overtime payments at the moment? Then think about the things that might make up for some of these if you lose them - would a new flexitime arrangement suit people more than a 30 minute tea break? Would some people prefer a shorter lunch hour (say 30 minutes instead of an hour) if the "payoff" was they get to finish earlier, or could leave early on a Friday?

As it's a large multi-national you can be relatively sure that their terms will meet the standards set down in local laws concerning breaks and holidays and things. But also remember that one of the reasons they're buying your company is to make a profit, and they may want to make a larger profit than your old owner did.

Once everyone has got their heads straight about the differences between needs and wants, give your requests (not demands!) to the current owner and ask him if he could pass it along to the new HR dept. Even better, ask if one or two people could represent the company to talk to the new HR.

the_syco

Usual story is that once you've been there a year, the contract of hours is your usual hours that you've worked in that 1st year. Would hae a better answer, but the search function doesn't work, and I'm too lazy to look :P

Eoin

If you've been working for a regular wage, then you do have a contract - it's just not written. However, it might be that any conditions or benefits about the statutory requirements could be hard to keep.

Check out the employment section on www.citizensinformation.ie