Ammending an employment contract

Whitecarstones

Two questions:

1.

If someones contract is amended - even temporarily (in this case lets say its their official job title) and it is done without the consent of the employee - is that a breach of contract?

Say there was two employers and an employee in the room and the employers told the employee they were temporarily removing them from a position (not because of anything they have done but had to do with the employees family member) and the employee brings legal action towards them but their defence is it was "agreed between both parties". Does the employee have a disadvantage because it is 2 against 1?

Or should they have to prove there was an agreement by a written ammendment to the contract signed by both parties?

2.

Can an employer exclude an employee from a staff meeting where the subject in question has got to do (not with her) but with the employees family member?

Peregrinus

The contract itself will provide for how it is to be varied. Regardless of what the contract says, it would be good practice to document any variation in writing, but the contract may not actually require this.

If the variation is, or is claimed to be, effected by oral agreement it isn't automatically the case that the two employer representatives saying that the variation was agreed will "trump" the one employee saying that it wasn't. Rather, the court/tribunal will look at all the evidence and will evaluate which version is, on the balance of probabilities, more likely to be true.

On the second question, if the subject at the meeting does not have to do with the employee then obviously the employee can be excluded from the meeting — that stands to reason. What's less obvious is why there would be a staff meeting about an employee's family member (unless, perhaps, the family member is also an employee of the same employer?)

Whitecarstones

Hey, thank you for your good insight.

Regarding the contract, there is no mention whatsoever about how amendments will be done, but there have been different amedments (eg the sick pay leave that was introduced a few months ago) that was amended by writing.

Regarding the meeting, the issue is complex but while the issue was about the employees family member the employee themselves was mentioned a couple of times and had no platform to speak up for themselves. Fact of the matter is that there should have been no reason why the family member should have been mentioned in the first place as the issue was outside the premises, outside work hours and had nothing whatsoever to do with the employee.

The employer caused significant distress to the employee as they felt completely humiliated and wronged. Pity they can do it legally if that is the case.