Hypothetical EU Employment law question
Discussion
Suppose that you work for a massive global corporation, of c.500,000 employees worldwide. Suppose that the global HQ of this company is in Germany.
You live in the UK, and have a UK contract of employment, but your role and remit currently cover all of Europe (western & eastern) and in fact due to the current organisation, your role is almost exclusively focused on Europe, excluding the UK. You work remotely, from home, as do many of your colleagues, and travel around Europe as necessary to deliver your commitments. This arrangement has been in place for several years.
Suppose that the company reorganises, and instead of a Europe region, they create a separate region for the UK, and a mainland Europe region which will include Middle East & Africa going forward. The UK, anomalously to other EU countries, already has a team carrying out similar work to you but you are not part of it (which is why your role is primarily Europe-focused).
The people at the top, in Germany, decide that as part of the new organisation, anyone working as part of the Mainland Europe team must be resident in Mainland Europe. Not in Germany, you note. Apparently, anywhere in Europe would be fine, as long as it were not England. Quite how the new team based in Mainland Europe would be resourced is not clear; indications are that they would need to recruit to replace anyone who is a current team member but a UK resident.
Last time I checked, the UK was part of Europe, both geographically and as part of the EU. So my question is, is that proposal legal? Could it be legally challenged? If so, under which laws; conversely if not, why not and supported by which laws?
TIA
You live in the UK, and have a UK contract of employment, but your role and remit currently cover all of Europe (western & eastern) and in fact due to the current organisation, your role is almost exclusively focused on Europe, excluding the UK. You work remotely, from home, as do many of your colleagues, and travel around Europe as necessary to deliver your commitments. This arrangement has been in place for several years.
Suppose that the company reorganises, and instead of a Europe region, they create a separate region for the UK, and a mainland Europe region which will include Middle East & Africa going forward. The UK, anomalously to other EU countries, already has a team carrying out similar work to you but you are not part of it (which is why your role is primarily Europe-focused).
The people at the top, in Germany, decide that as part of the new organisation, anyone working as part of the Mainland Europe team must be resident in Mainland Europe. Not in Germany, you note. Apparently, anywhere in Europe would be fine, as long as it were not England. Quite how the new team based in Mainland Europe would be resourced is not clear; indications are that they would need to recruit to replace anyone who is a current team member but a UK resident.
Last time I checked, the UK was part of Europe, both geographically and as part of the EU. So my question is, is that proposal legal? Could it be legally challenged? If so, under which laws; conversely if not, why not and supported by which laws?
TIA
Worth checking your hypothetical contract of employment to see what it says about your location i.e. are you officially a 'home worker' etc etc. then worth looking to see if it makes any provisions regarding changing your place of work. Then look up the grievance procedure, and constructive dismissal regs (for which you will need a good employment lawyer)
or... Get in contact with the appropriate individuals in the UK business unit, and start to arrange your transfer - you probably know them already.
Finally, you have my sympathy, blue chip companies tend to just throw in contract amendments to employees and expect them to simply take it, and not complain. This one however, sounds like a step too far.
or... Get in contact with the appropriate individuals in the UK business unit, and start to arrange your transfer - you probably know them already.
Finally, you have my sympathy, blue chip companies tend to just throw in contract amendments to employees and expect them to simply take it, and not complain. This one however, sounds like a step too far.
Yes, contractually based at home and have been for several years. I do know the UK team but there aren't any obvious gaps there at present.
The irony is that, as things are currently being positioned., I could live in, say Andalucia and retain the role. Andalucia would have worse (and probably more expensive) travel options to the rest of the region, and perhaps worse/more expensive local comms options for remote working.
Or, to put another spin on it, if, say, I lived 30-40 miles from the channel tunnel, I could move to Calais and qualify for the role but it would take me massively longer to travel anywhere in Europe by air.
Re the constructive dismissal point, I would have to look into that as it isn't just me - this potentially targets a whole team of people.
The irony is that, as things are currently being positioned., I could live in, say Andalucia and retain the role. Andalucia would have worse (and probably more expensive) travel options to the rest of the region, and perhaps worse/more expensive local comms options for remote working.
Or, to put another spin on it, if, say, I lived 30-40 miles from the channel tunnel, I could move to Calais and qualify for the role but it would take me massively longer to travel anywhere in Europe by air.
Re the constructive dismissal point, I would have to look into that as it isn't just me - this potentially targets a whole team of people.
CAPP0 said:
Yes, contractually based at home and have been for several years. I do know the UK team but there aren't any obvious gaps there at present.
The irony is that, as things are currently being positioned., I could live in, say Andalucia and retain the role. Andalucia would have worse (and probably more expensive) travel options to the rest of the region, and perhaps worse/more expensive local comms options for remote working.
Or, to put another spin on it, if, say, I lived 30-40 miles from the channel tunnel, I could move to Calais and qualify for the role but it would take me massively longer to travel anywhere in Europe by air.
Re the constructive dismissal point, I would have to look into that as it isn't just me - this potentially targets a whole team of people.
Even better on the constructive point - group action, stronger position quite possibly - that got the lawyer greased up when I had employment issues a few years back The irony is that, as things are currently being positioned., I could live in, say Andalucia and retain the role. Andalucia would have worse (and probably more expensive) travel options to the rest of the region, and perhaps worse/more expensive local comms options for remote working.
Or, to put another spin on it, if, say, I lived 30-40 miles from the channel tunnel, I could move to Calais and qualify for the role but it would take me massively longer to travel anywhere in Europe by air.
Re the constructive dismissal point, I would have to look into that as it isn't just me - this potentially targets a whole team of people.
Are they going to offer you the chance to relocate and retain your job?
The company I work for decided to consolidate all it's purchasing departments in the Netherlands.
Everyone in the UK was given a choice, take a redundancy package or relocate to the Netherlands with a financial assistance package.
I have no idea as to the legality, just that it was done and no one challenged to to the best of my knowledge.
The company I work for decided to consolidate all it's purchasing departments in the Netherlands.
Everyone in the UK was given a choice, take a redundancy package or relocate to the Netherlands with a financial assistance package.
I have no idea as to the legality, just that it was done and no one challenged to to the best of my knowledge.
It's hypothetical because it hasn't yet happened, although it has been suggested that it may do within the next few weeks.
But I'm sure that you feel a lot better for having wasted your time posting a non-response and attempting, unsuccessfully, to make yourself look big and clever.
What happened to you BV? I'm sorry for you, for whatever it was.
But I'm sure that you feel a lot better for having wasted your time posting a non-response and attempting, unsuccessfully, to make yourself look big and clever.
What happened to you BV? I'm sorry for you, for whatever it was.
As I said, it's hypothetical because it has been put to me today that this may be the route which the German team are proposing to take. However, it hasn't been openly stated, therefore it is neither fact, or presented as a fait accompli at this point. Perhaps I have chosen the wrong term and it should be something other than hypothetical? "Potential"?
I wasn't particularly trying to be rude, although you had already stated that no advice would be forthcoming from you, which I fully accept; it's entirely your prerogative, but I therefore had nothing to lose in the manner in which I addressed you. Perhaps not a subject for full and public discussion, but my query above was around the fact that more recently you seem to have changed from previously being a jovial, occasionally humourous, helpful poster to someone who now presents as permanently irritable and with a significant superiority complex. It's not how I recall your posts from a couple of years or more back. That said, I'm sure I have changed too, and someone will probably dredge up an old unrelated post of mine to prove it!
Anyway, thanks to those who have proffered option above. I shall have to determine how much my colleagues are aware of and canvas opinion. Unfortunately, I once put my head above a parapet for a team many many years ago, and strangely enough I was the only one whose head was subsequently blown off.
I wasn't particularly trying to be rude, although you had already stated that no advice would be forthcoming from you, which I fully accept; it's entirely your prerogative, but I therefore had nothing to lose in the manner in which I addressed you. Perhaps not a subject for full and public discussion, but my query above was around the fact that more recently you seem to have changed from previously being a jovial, occasionally humourous, helpful poster to someone who now presents as permanently irritable and with a significant superiority complex. It's not how I recall your posts from a couple of years or more back. That said, I'm sure I have changed too, and someone will probably dredge up an old unrelated post of mine to prove it!
Anyway, thanks to those who have proffered option above. I shall have to determine how much my colleagues are aware of and canvas opinion. Unfortunately, I once put my head above a parapet for a team many many years ago, and strangely enough I was the only one whose head was subsequently blown off.
Devil2575 said:
I suspect that if it's a big multinational they will comply with their legal requirements. I could be wrong though.
The number of compromise agreements and legal action taken would suggest otherwise.Multinationals are like small companies; sometimes they don't or omit to take advice on complex issues and then pay the price.
I've seen it many times in restructuring.
Breadvan72 said:
The words that you are looking for are "indirectly discriminatory on grounds of nationality or national origin". See section 19 Equality Act 2010.
Do these acts apply to companies that are registered in other countries? i.e. if he's employed by the main German mothership, and not a UK subsidiary, is the employment contract subject to German law?Even if an employment contract stipulates a governing law other than that of the place where the employee is, within the EU the employee has to have employment protection equivalent to that offered by the law of that state. In any event, German law includes provisions similar to those of the Equality Act, those being mandated by the EU to achieve harmonisation of the employment market across the EU.
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