changing terms to employment contracts

changing terms to employment contracts

Author
Discussion

Stevanos

Original Poster:

700 posts

136 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
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Have finished probationary employment and finally got a permanent contract.

There are a couple of things I am not comfortable with...

The notice period I have to give has been changed from 30 days to 3 months!

A bonus was written in the first contract, now it says its "applicable from time to time".

These are quite big changes as far as I am concerned, any thoughts on where I stand and best way to proceed.

GoneAnon

1,703 posts

151 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
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I reckon the first is fairly standard and if they don't want you to work 90 days after handing in your notice they should pay you in lieu. Always worth asking for equivalent notice from them, but I wouldn't hold your breath, and you would have to be prepared to hand around for that long if they did bin you.

As for a bonus, every contract I've ever had reserves the right to change the commission/bonus Ts & Cs from time to time and I've never had a guaranteed bonus (not sure it wold be a bonus if it was guaranteed).

Mr Pointy

11,149 posts

158 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
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It comes down to one thing: how badly do you want to keep the job? If you're not bothered, decline the contract on the basis of the changes. 90 days is a long time for a new employer to wait for you to join them & the bonus seems to now be completely at someone's whim.

If you're inside two years employment it seems they can pretty much dispense with you so you need to balance your need for the job with the revised terms.

Stevanos

Original Poster:

700 posts

136 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
I'm not overly happy about having to give them 3 months notice, given there seems to be no career path despite asking!

With respects to the bonus, it was written in my job offer and my first contract, so it feels like they are changing my job.


mph1977

12,467 posts

167 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
what is the notice term from the employer - has it gone to 90 days each way ? lengthening notice terms at quite modest levles in organisations seems to be a recent trend

as for the bonus the exact terminology of both the probie contract and the full contract needs to be looked at and this is probably the job of a TU/ Professional representative organsiation advisor ( not a shop steward/ local accredited rep or even the convenor if you have them - more probably either a Full time officer or their legal bods).

KFC

3,687 posts

129 months

Monday 21st July 2014
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If its 90 days for either side if they want to end the contract, and its a junior position, generally I'd see that as a positive for the the employee. If they want rid of you, you get 3 months salary to help you through finding another job. Yet if you want to leave and you want to do it before the 3 months is up, the chances are they'll either let you go (nobody wants an employee who doesn't want to be there, productivity will be near zero), or they won't do anything at all if you just walk out.

The Beaver King

6,095 posts

194 months

Monday 21st July 2014
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As others have said above; 90 days works both ways and should provide you with some reassurance.

If you did decide to leave, you can always negotiate with your employer to reduce the term of your notice period. Worst case, you can always walk out early. Obviously, that is not the ideal solution (burnt bridges and all that), but it is still an emergency option.

I can't really comment on the bonus clause, but it might be worth having a chat with a few others in the office and find out if this is a standard clause.

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 22nd July 2014
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A note of caution: pub myth suggests that employers cannot and do not enforce notice periods, but in fact they can and they do in cases where the contract includes a garden leave clause and where upholding that is reasonable. This tends only to be the case for middle ranking to senior employees, but sales staff in particular may be on the garden leave hook.