New contract problem

trobbin

Hi people, I have a query for a friend and would love some advice.

Friend works for a very small company of about six employees, she works there seven years and is on a full time contract 39 hours p/w.

Her boss wants her to sign a contract stating he can cut her hours if he runs into trouble plus she will no longer be entitled to three sick days a year??? Please some advice

trobbin

Forgot to add. I also think if the new contract is signed she will no longer be entitled to redundancy should he let her go? Surely if you have an existing contract you should be within your rights to keep it and not sign the new one? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Nody

You can't sign away your legal redundancy so that's an easy one for starters (but you can sign away anything beyond it). There is neither a legal right for paid sick leave; so having none is compliant with the law.

As to the question; they can always make her redundant if she don't sign if they are willing to go through the required steps (position change of duties and name etc.) or if she don't sign but keep on working it would be taken as she in fact do accept her new terms. Due to this I'd recommend to sit down and have a serious discussion with the boss and be ready to be made redundant if not willing to accept the new terms (or request to be made redundant).

trobbin

Nody wrote: »

You can't sign away your legal redundancy so that's an easy one for starters (but you can sign away anything beyond it). There is neither a legal right for paid sick leave; so having none is compliant with the law.

As to the question; they can always make her redundant if she don't sign if they are willing to go through the required steps (position change of duties and name etc.) or if she don't sign but keep on working it would be taken as she in fact do accept her new terms. Due to this I'd recommend to sit down and have a serious discussion with the boss and be ready to be made redundant if not willing to accept the new terms (or request to be made redundant).

Firstly thanks for your reply. You say you can't sign away your redundancy? If you sign a new contract does that not mean your starting again from new?

You said they can make her redundant if she doesn't sign, fair enough any job can if they really want to. But my question is does she have to sign?
You see, she has a full time contract and her main concern is once this contract is signed, her days and hours will be cut without pay at her employers discretion. And he may do this, but if she doesn't sign he can't do it, and it will be hard for him to prove he needs to cut hours as the practice is very busy, in fact as busy as ever!

Nody

trobbin wrote: »

Firstly thanks for your reply. You say you can't sign away your redundancy? If you sign a new contract does that not mean your starting again from new?

Nope; redundancy is based on the years in the company, not the position or latest contract. The only thing you can change on redundancy would be what's higher then the law for example existing contract being 4 weeks pay per year of service (which exceeds the minimum legal requirement of 2 weeks pay per year of service).

You said they can make her redundant if she doesn't sign, fair enough any job can if they really want to. But my question is does she have to sign?

If she don't sign and continue to work it's taken as she accepts the new terms by still working there. Hence if she signs or not is irrelevant one year down the line as the company can simply point at the fact she's still there and this was the contract update she was given. This is also why I said she needs to sit down and discuss it with her boss to see what can be done.

Short of that the only way would be to hand it back signed with the passes she disagree with removed by drawing a pen over the actual text or similar action as anything less risks to fall in being seen as accepting them.

You see, she has a full time contract and her main concern is once this contract is signed, her days and hours will be cut without pay at her employers discretion. And he may do this, but if she doesn't sign he can't do it, and it will be hard for him to prove he needs to cut hours as the practice is very busy, in fact as busy as ever!

So ask the boss to remove said passages and tell him that they can discuss it further if/when the business slows down but at the moment she don't feel it's appropiate. Just continuing to work would be seen as accepting the new terms which is exactly what she don't want to do and is exactly why she should have the discussion with the boss about it.

trobbin

Thanks again Nody. I will tell her to discuss the terms she is worried about with him and seek changes to be made.

Just to clarify, if she says I'm not signing. But continues to work, it's as good as signed?

Thanks again very much appreciated:)

Nody

trobbin wrote: »

Thanks again Nody. I will tell her to discuss the terms she is worried about with him and seek changes to be made.

Just to clarify, if she says I'm not signing. But continues to work, it's as good as signed?

Thanks again very much appreciated:)

Pretty much yes because she can't prove she said it (so it comes down to a you said/he said scenario). She'd need to sign the contract inc. dated (but not on the signature line) stating that she does not accept these new terms and hand it back and hope they would store it instead of trash it basically and if she does this I'd also recommend sending an e-mail (and print a copy of the e-mail and send a copy to her private e-mail in BCC) stating the same (i.e. As communicated in person and written on the new contract at date xyz I do not accept the new contract and insist to continue on the existing terms until I agree differently).

This is all to add protection for her side in case it would end up in a court room down the line (unlikely but better safe then sorry).

Also to add none of the above are legal advise (nor do I claim to be working in such a profession or having worked in such a profession) but rather based on my private knowledge of the relevant laws and practices from working a lot with HR (I've had to deal with plenty of skeletons in the wardrobe moments when I wanted HR to get things done for me) .