signing a contract

fabvinny

hi guys,i dont have a contract at work but we are being asked to sign one now.what i want to know is am i obliged to sign it? should my exact working hours be on my contract?(all thats on it is we work a forty hour week,which we are worried that they will change our hours to suit them better,are we entitled to have our exact hours on it?)
what will happen if we,as a group refuse to sign the contract if there are issues we dont agree with?
i am with the company 4 years.
thanks.

simo_101

fabvinny wrote: »

hi guys,i dont have a contract at work but we are being asked to sign one now.what i want to know is am i obliged to sign it? should my exact working hours be on my contract?(all thats on it is we work a forty hour week,which we are worried that they will change our hours to suit them better,are we entitled to have our exact hours on it?)
what will happen if we,as a group refuse to sign the contract if there are issues we dont agree with?
i am with the company 4 years.
thanks.

An employment contract can be written, oral or implied. Any fundamental change in working conditions is overseen under the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994, and technically you do require agreement between employer and employee. But if your employer isn't actually changing anything, rather only putting a previous arrangement into writing, then this may not apply.

Your employer is entitled to change your working hours at any time to suit business needs, so long as sufficient notice is given - which from experience is anything from 24 hours to a week. However, just because your contract is being put into writing doesn't change this - without a written contract your employer can equally change your working practices with just a short notice. Getting your exact hours put into your contract would remove this issue, but that very rarely happens - normally it's 'between the hours of 9 and 9,' 'during business hours' etc.

If you refuse to sign the contract you could be deemed as having rescinded your earlier employment contract and as such are quitting of your own volition (no redundancy/severance) I would be very careful as to how you approach the matter.

You can negotiate with your employer but ultimately they set the working conditions. If you have queries, the best course of action is to speak with them, either individually or as a group.

Doom

Try this site...has everything you need to know.

http://www.employmentrights.ie/en/