employment law

Stella102 · Post by **Stella102** » 23 Feb 2016, 17:03

what is the employment law regarding changing OPG's working hours. Say for example they are on a 3 day week which matches the TM1 but due to decline of mail and indoor work managers want them on delivery only on a 5 day week. What can and can't managers do and is there a specific law that states if you have been working such and such hours for a certain amount of time then that is your hours.

advice needed please

IcanthelpthewayIam · Post by **IcanthelpthewayIam** » 23 Feb 2016, 18:24

employment law says that an employer can change your working hours if they want as long as they give reasonable notice, there is no definition of reasonable but it is generally accepted as 28 days notice.

datasaint · Post by **datasaint** » 23 Feb 2016, 19:07

Presumably you aren't the only one in the office on 3 days a week, so how do they decide who switches? Unless it's everybody.

Stella102 · Post by **Stella102** » 24 Feb 2016, 13:55

IcanthelpthewayIam · Post by **IcanthelpthewayIam** » 24 Feb 2016, 14:06

What sort of answer is it your looking for?

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 24 Feb 2016, 14:33

https://worksmart.org.uk/work-rights/pa ... employment" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

CAN MY EMPLOYER CHANGE MY CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT?

A contract of employment is a legal agreement between the employer and the employee. Its terms cannot lawfully be changed or varied by the employer without agreement from the employee (either individually or through a recognised trade union).

Where a trade union is recognised, negotiations to change contract terms should be through collective bargaining.

Your employer owes an implied contractual duty to explain clearly the effect of any change, for example a change to wages or working hours.

Your employer should meet with affected employees, or the union where one is recognised, and explain their case for making the proposed change. Employees must be given time to consider the proposal as well as to suggest alternative ways of achieving the same result (for example if cost-saving is the aim, different cost-saving ideas).

Where the change involves removing a benefit, an employment tribunal is more likely to think your employer has acted fairly if it has offered something in return for the change, such as financial compensation, and given enough advance notice before the change takes effect.

An employee can decide to accept a change, and many terms of the contract are, of course, varied from time to time by mutual consent. For example, it is quite usual for pay to be varied (usually increased) on an annual basis.

A change to the contract must not leave an employee unable to perform the contract – for example, requiring an employee to relocate at extremely short notice with no payment of expenses.

The way your employer implements any contract change must not breach their duty not to behave in a way that damages mutual trust and confidence, or the implied duty of good faith.

Where changes are made to your contract, employers must give you written notification of the change within four weeks.

An unauthorised, one-sided variation will be a breach of the contract of employment, and the fact that the employer has given you notice of the change will not make it lawful. However, if you put up with the change without protesting, there is a good chance that you will be viewed as having implicitly accepted the change, losing your right to object to it.

You should consider regularly registering your opposition to the change (e.g. every month) and pursuing a claim in the employment tribunal for, say, unlawful deduction from wages.

In practice, a collective approach to this sort of dispute is often best, either via a group tribunal claim supported by your trade union, through protest and threatened industrial action, or by a combination of different approaches.

Sometimes, a change is so fundamental that it goes to the heart of the contract. A resignation in response to this kind of change could be a 'constructive dismissal'. However, resigning is clearly a very high-risk option, and usually only advisable when you have another job to go to.

IcanthelpthewayIam · Post by **IcanthelpthewayIam** » 24 Feb 2016, 15:02

Worth pointing out that most opg contracts state number of hours per week rather than actual hours of work, as such varying the hours of work is not a change in contract

also if employed as opg then rm can ask you to do other opg work and again that is not a change in contract

meercat · Post by **meercat** » 02 Mar 2016, 21:53

zx135 wrote:Worth pointing out that most opg contracts state number of hours per week rather than actual hours of work, as such varying the hours of work is not a change in contract

also if employed as opg then rm can ask you to do other opg work and again that is not a change in contract

Not sure I agree with that. In law there doesn't necessarily have to be a written agreement for a contract to be in place. If historically you have been working in a certain way then there is an implied contract based around those conditions. So just as when you work to new rules without objecting (as if says above) you are by implication accepting the new conditions after a certain time.

I would say going from a 3day to a 5 day week etc is a massive loss of a benefit. Especially if you have hobbies or child care or even another job you do on those days off. That is a significant change of contract and I would fight that all the way to either have it kept as is or to get some sort of compensation for loss (which would likely have to be nationwide?).

IcanthelpthewayIam · Post by **IcanthelpthewayIam** » 03 Mar 2016, 16:29

meercat wrote:
zx135 wrote:Worth pointing out that most opg contracts state number of hours per week rather than actual hours of work, as such varying the hours of work is not a change in contract

also if employed as opg then rm can ask you to do other opg work and again that is not a change in contract
Not sure I agree with that. In law there doesn't necessarily have to be a written agreement for a contract to be in place. If historically you have been working in a certain way then there is an implied contract based around those conditions. So just as when you work to new rules without objecting (as if says above) you are by implication accepting the new conditions after a certain time.

I would say going from a 3day to a 5 day week etc is a massive loss of a benefit. Especially if you have hobbies or child care or even another job you do on those days off. That is a significant change of contract and I would fight that all the way to either have it kept as is or to get some sort of compensation for loss (which would likely have to be nationwide?).

Have read at this site, it explains more about when an employer can change your hours of attendance even from a 3 to 5 day week without agreement

http://www.safeworkers.co.uk/if-your-em ... hours.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here's an excerpt from the website that's relevant

Which Shifts You Work
I've been working for a company for 11 years since it started. I have been working day shifts because they told me that the night shift is too risky for ladies.

Now they said I must work the night shift without any reason or agreement. I haven't worked a night shift before and I have two children who are 5 & 9. My husband works nights so cannot look after them.

What times/days you have to work will depend on your contract.
If your contract states that you are available to work any time, unfortunately you can be called upon to work on different days/hours than your usual work pattern.
If your availability has changed, you need to discuss this with your employer, and a new contract may need to be signed with this change reflected.

So legally they can change you days of work as long as correct notice given, think about it this way say a duty holder held a rotating day off for 10 years but after a revision he was then bumped to a reserve with no fixed day off or different number of attendances per week, you are effectively saying that is a breach of his contract, clearly that is not the case as it is happening up and down the country at the moment and there is no need for permission from the affected employee and no need for compensation either, it is perfectly legal for an employer to change your working hours within the scope of what is written in your contract as long as reasonable notice is given regardless of how long you were on the old shift previously

It's even perfectly legal for an employer to change someone who works 1 10 hour day per week to work every day and spread those 10 hours across 7 days and have someone working 7 days per week as long as their contract didn't state specifics about days of work etc

fishtank · Post by **fishtank** » 03 Mar 2016, 17:34

Employment law would only apply if all internenal grievance procedures have been exhausted including the IR framework. Employment law itself is in most cases not something I would like to rely on.

ninja · Post by **ninja** » 04 Mar 2016, 16:30

agree with fishtank.

You are talking about changes to the agreed AWD duty sets and therefore would be subject to local agreement.