Resolved Question

Employer goes against employment agreement?

in may 08 i joined my company and signed a regular employment agreement. I have signed to work monday to friday, 9-6, bank holiday off etc etc...
after almost one year, in march 08 they forced me to work shifts, promising that soon a new position would have been made available for me, that suited more my personality and skills and that would bring me back to my original working hours. Nothing has never been put into writing, and we are now almost in October, and of this phantom new job i hardly hear about. Over the months i have asked how long i needed to wait and i have always been told "soon"! I am suffering for this reason of low self esteem, i feel incredibly frustrated and i have fear of putting my cv out there. This company makes me hanging out by a hope thread for months, without any security, and it is damaging me immensely on many levels. Moreover i needed in the past to ask them to pay my only day of sickness (as they introduced this new policy) and i had to battle not to keep me alone in the office during weekends as it was a breach of health and safety.
What can i do about my working shift, and do i have rights to appeal? I need to go back to my normal hours, and to feel protected by the company i work for, but they just play with me...

PLS NOTE: the agreement does NOT contain any clause that says that things such as working hours and working bank holidays can be changed. It is signed by the director and myself.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

There was no reason for you to agree to a change to your contract, and while there is an opinion that these must be capable of being changed, in law there is no obligation for this. Most changes to contracts should be negotiated, with benefits agreed for both sides; if you don't achieve that, you should consider whether you want to agree to a change of contract.

That said, the fact you have now been working this new arrangement since March (I assume of this year) does lend itself to the idea that you have accepted the changes - you should either not have agreed to the changes in March, refused to work them, or at least secured a clear understanding on what would follow.

The fact the original contract doesn't include any clause about changing the hours is irrelevant: you are effectively working under a new contract, and would appear to have agreed to this, albeit with an ambiguous agreement about the future.

You could try to force a reversal of this, and get back to what the written contract states, but it wouldn't be easy to achieve. It is worth lodging a formal grievance, but there remains no guarantee that you will get your old working pattern back. Read about grievances on the ACAS website (acas.org.uk), and make sure you file a clear & comprehensive complaint, making reference to the agreement you had reached with the employer.

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Other Answers (2)

• If you are in the UK, all contracts must be capable of being changed, even if there is no clause in them to say this.
  the fact that you agreed to work shifts and that you have turned up and actually worked shifts constitutes a change in your contract. If you now wish to change the contract, you have to make a formal request to do so. If your employer does not agree, you would need to follow your company's grievance procedure - which ultimately might mean that you don't get what you want especially if the employer can show there are good operational reasons for you being required to work the shift pattern which you do.

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• I can only agree with the two excellent and correct legal inputs you have already: all contracts have a change process written in, no need to accept change, but as you have accepted and worked for a period to this new format its almost accepted by default.
  
  My thought here now is: how do you resolve this? In the present rising unemployment economy, I think most formats of approach would result in some form of "well, if it doesn't suit you, resign" response.
  
  You say that it is "damaging me immensely on many levels" - have you talked to your doctor about this? My thought is, if you could get support from your doctor that returning to more normal 9-5 hours/shifts, then your health and productivity would improve.
  
  Companies don't need to presently "protect" employees beyond legal and Health & Safety requirements: long doll queues means easy replacement, often at lower wages/higher skills. The question therefore is, do you want to work for this company? And in all honesty, the answer sounds like a very loud NO - but you don't seem to have the confidence to say this to yourself.
  
  I suggest, whatever option you take, that you do have a look around. You have been there 18months+, which is a good time to turn over your career. Yes, there is a chance of being in a worse position, but you are in a morally in a stronger position to negotiate T&C's as a new employee over changing them as an existing employee. You can hide your details on most of the large job boards, and just be very choosy about what/where you apply.
  
  There are lots of ways of answering legal questions, but at the end of the day, if you don't want to work there: move on.
  
  Good Luck!

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