changes in job role

lifeandtimes

Hi,

Can anyone just clarify this for me please?

On my contract in the job title it states

" The company reserves the right to change your duties and responsibilities during our employment"

Does this apply the following highlighted part from citizens info regarding " changes to contract"

Changes introduced by agreement
The nature of your job may change, so that you are doing a different job for the same employer. Such a major change will probably also result in changes to your terms and conditions of employment. Unless your contract already allows certain changes to be introduced, you or your employer cannot introduce change unilaterally. There must be agreement between the parties. Where such an agreement is reached, you must be given the details of change(s) in writing within 1 month of their coming into operation.

My company are outsourcing our work and trying to change our roles completely, we do not agree to this, my contract states the above so im wondering are they are allowed to do this based on the information that citizens info says " unless your contract allows for certain changes"

Any help is appreciated

screamer

Op unsure of they can change your contract. But if they are outsourcing your work leaving you all with nothing to do you could very easily find yourselves being made redundant. Far as I know outsourcing is perfectly legal so really there's a bigger question for you all to ask yourselves.

lifeandtimes

screamer wrote: »

Op unsure of they can change your contract. But if they are outsourcing your work leaving you all with nothing to do you could very easily find yourselves being made redundant. Far as I know outsourcing is perfectly legal so really there's a bigger question for you all to ask yourselves.

Hi thanks for you reply.

To give an example the are outsourcing our work and looking for us to do a completely different role to what our contract states, to give an example, say if my contract says im an administrator they are looking for me to change to another role like a telesales role. They have categorically stated they will not offer redudency

Dodge

"duties and responsibilities" are different to your "role".

For example, if you were a IT professional, they couldn't just ask you to become a printer.

They could however ask you to work on a customer support desk when you hadn't previously

(Using this as a broad definition).

Your job title/specification in your contract would supercede any listed duties IMO

lifeandtimes

Dodge wrote: »

"duties and responsibilities" are different to your "role".

For example, if you were a IT professional, they couldn't just ask you to become a printer.

They could however ask you to work on a customer support desk when you hadn't previously

(Using this as a broad definition).

Your job title/specification in your contract would supercede any listed duties IMO

i see....so in these examples says if you were a telesales agent, that is your role, changing the duties and responsibilities is changing something within that role i.e some who takes inbound calls could be changes to an outbound call campaign but they couldn't change your role to be say an administrator or hr representative

Dodge

That's what I think anyway. if you were a telesales agent, they could ask you to produce a report on sales that day, or ask you to train in other telesales agents or similar "tasks" that might be associated with the job.

Stheno

If your role is being outsourced, have you been offered the choice to move to the new company?

lifeandtimes

Stheno wrote: »

If your role is being outsourced, have you been offered the choice to move to the new company?

no the job is being to another continent so they are offering jobs in different departments that arent our roles which we arent trained on etc.

I was just wondering if the could use the wording in my contract to change my role but the consensus seems to be they cant change my role but can change my responsibilities.

Word is going around that if they have moved all our jobs and they haven't got similar roles for us to go into then they will have to offer redundancy as we do not have to accept different job roles/aspects that arent in line with what we do. Not sure if that is correct

Stheno

To be honest you probably need some legal advice.

You could contact the Workplace relations commission or consult a solicitor.

Mrs OBumble

OP, think about what you really want to achieve here: Is it better to have a job (which they will have to train you in from the very basics), or statutory redundancy and no job?

Frankly, I wouldn't see the roles of administrator vs telesales agent as being that vastly different.

Even if you don't like the content of the new job, it's easier to get a new job when you already have one.

triple nipple

lifeandtimes wrote:

To give an example the are outsourcing our work and looking for us to do a completely different role to what our contract states, to give an example, say if my contract says im an administrator they are looking for me to change to another role like a telesales role. They have categorically stated they will not offer redudency

Are you working for Hcl?

screamer

I think technically if they offer you other suitable work and you refuse then there's no obligation to pay redundancy. They offer you a suitable different job you say no or don't want it, then you need to resign.

lifeandtimes

screamer wrote: »

I think technically if they offer you other suitable work and you refuse then there's no obligation to pay redundancy. They offer you a suitable different job you say no or don't want it, then you need to resign.

well to be fair i don't think that's the case,they cant offer someone who works as say a supervisor a job as a janitor, might seem suitable to some people but it wouldn't to other.

Dodge

People here are only giving their opinions. If you're serious about challenging your company, then you need proper legal advice

screamer

lifeandtimes wrote: »

well to be fair i don't think that's the case,they cant offer someone who works as say a supervisor a job as a janitor, might seem suitable to some people but it wouldn't to other.

You'll find it is. There is a definition around suitable alternative work your example doesnt show that suitability. in case of admin to telesales with training its very much suitable alternative work. But just to say that there is no automatic entitlement to redundancy and OP yes you need an employment solicitor to advise you.

Jim2007

lifeandtimes wrote: »

screamer wrote: »

Op unsure of they can change your contract. But if they are outsourcing your work leaving you all with nothing to do you could very easily find yourselves being made redundant. Far as I know outsourcing is perfectly legal so really there's a bigger question for you all to ask yourselves.

Hi thanks for you reply.

To give an example the are outsourcing our work and looking for us to do a completely different role to what our contract states, to give an example, say if my contract says im an administrator they are looking for me to change to another role like a telesales role. They have categorically stated they will not offer redudency

I think you can forget the contract, your job is gone. From what I remember if they are offering you alternative work that you are capable of doing, then they don't need to offer redundancy. So the choice becomes do you want to take up the work offered or walk away.

lifeandtimes

Jim2007 wrote: »

I think you can forget the contract, your job is gone. From what I remember if they are offering you alternative work that you are capable of doing, then they don't need to offer redundancy. So the choice becomes do you want to take up the work offered or walk away.

Generally speaking, alternatives which involve a loss of status or worsening of the terms and conditions of your employment would not be considered reasonable

Im grateful for all your replies so id like to say thanks, the one thing that sticks out for me is the quote above regarding redundancy on citizens information.
The role i have would be quite a coveted job, like people would give their left arm to have it kinda job and the alternative they are offering is not as good in the slightes, would that qualify as loss of status do you think or does is seem like its more of case by case basis and further details would be required etc

Irish_Elect_Eng

Generally speaking, alternatives which involve a loss of status or worsening of the terms and conditions of your employment would not be considered reasonable

Loss of status generally refers to the level of the role. Director Vs Manager, Senior Vs Junior, etc. It is a objective assessment, not a subjective one. It would not really take into account what you thought about the status of the roles, simply the level of the role.

Worsening of the terms and conditions, generally refers to your contract, Wages, hours, pension, benefits. It is a objective assessment, not a subjective one. The position offered needs to be reasonable, this works both ways, there may be some additional different benefits to balance out some missing benefits in the new role.

It would help us to give advice if you were specific about the old and new role levels, titles and duties.