Employer wants to vary my Contract

Diamondmaker

Hi

Im based in Oz but the fundamentals should be the similar if not identical.

The company is based in another state and wishes to consolodate us into their business unit contractually.

I currently have a contract that has no date on it therefore no expiry, we are both on 1 months notice either way.

The company has recently made redundancies and these people were paid their due.

The new contract goes to great pains to stress that the time we have served under our current entity will still carry forward along with all entitlements etc and one is being lead to believe ( given the current lay offs ) there 3 - 19 years of service will carry forward.

There is one subtle difference to the contract, it states our employment will "initially" be at Brisbane, previously it stated our employment is in Brisbane.

The people who were made redundant were asked to move states as they shut down their dept here, they said now and were made redundant.

If we sign the new terms and we are subsequently asked to leave we will have to move or resign losing our redundancy rights?

Is this a sinister ploy ? What can thye do if we flat refuse to sign the new ones ? There must be agreement to vary a contract so we hold the cards here if they wish us to sign again they must negotiate with us ??

thanks

blueythebear

Diamondmaker wrote: »

Hi

Im based in Oz but the fundamentals should be the similar if not identical.

The company is based in another state and wishes to consolodate us into their business unit contractually.

I currently have a contract that has no date on it therefore no expiry, we are both on 1 months notice either way.

The company has recently made redundancies and these people were paid their due.

The new contract goes to great pains to stress that the time we have served under our current entity will still carry forward along with all entitlements etc and one is being lead to believe ( given the current lay offs ) there 3 - 19 years of service will carry forward.

There is one subtle difference to the contract, it states our employment will "initially" be at Brisbane, previously it stated our employment is in Brisbane.

The people who were made redundant were asked to move states as they shut down their dept here, they said now and were made redundant.

If we sign the new terms and we are subsequently asked to leave we will have to move or resign losing our redundancy rights?

Is this a sinister ploy ? What can thye do if we flat refuse to sign the new ones ? There must be agreement to vary a contract so we hold the cards here if they wish us to sign again they must negotiate with us ??

thanks

I would expect that they are trying to avoid the same scenario happening again. If you sign the contracts, they could request that you move Offices, judging by the contract amendment you described and that if you refused, they could potentially dismiss you.

If you do not sign the contracts, then they cannot force you to but they could potentially make you redundant. Dismissing you in such a scenario could be a case of unfair dismissal.

This is obviously tempered by the fact that I have no knowledge of Australian employment law and know nothing of the specific facts of this matter so it can't possibly be construed as legal advice.

BrianD

Don't employers have to state your normal place of work in their contracts?

I would imagine that they also have to in Australia. Quite clearly this company is planning to relocate. So I would either not sign it or have it amended to state a defined place of work. They are possibly hoping that you will ignore the "initially".

Your best bet is some informed legal advice from a solicitor.