Employment Law - Change of Working Hours - Advice Required
Discussion
Hi all,
Just wondered if there are any employment law specialists on here that can confirm something for me.
My MiL works for Sodexo, and has been at the same place for 18 years. They are trying to press her into a change of her working hours, including working evenings and weekends. She currently works 6:30am-3:00pm.
Am I right in saying that unless both parties agree to this they cannot just change her hours? She definitely does not want to change her hours and they are now threatening her with legal action if she does not agree!
We have requested a copy of her contract but they are being quite obstructive, we do not believe there are any flexible hour conditions etc in there.
Does anyone have any advice? I've suggested she speaks to CAB and/or ACAS, but she doesn't understand this sort of thing and is getting very upset about it so just want to be able to (hopefully) put her mind at ease a little.
I appreciate in advance any help anyone is able to offer.
Jack
Just wondered if there are any employment law specialists on here that can confirm something for me.
My MiL works for Sodexo, and has been at the same place for 18 years. They are trying to press her into a change of her working hours, including working evenings and weekends. She currently works 6:30am-3:00pm.
Am I right in saying that unless both parties agree to this they cannot just change her hours? She definitely does not want to change her hours and they are now threatening her with legal action if she does not agree!
We have requested a copy of her contract but they are being quite obstructive, we do not believe there are any flexible hour conditions etc in there.
Does anyone have any advice? I've suggested she speaks to CAB and/or ACAS, but she doesn't understand this sort of thing and is getting very upset about it so just want to be able to (hopefully) put her mind at ease a little.
I appreciate in advance any help anyone is able to offer.
Jack
Hi there, thanks for all of the replies, much appreciated.
We have now got hold of her contract of employment which specifically refers to the current hours she works and states the amount of hours worked a week.
The reason for the change is because they say they don't need people in that early anymore, she works in a kitchen and have adjusted the breakfast times, so I can absolutely see from their perspective that they don't need anyone in that early.
The only reason I thought she may have a case is that her contract of employment specifically refers to the hours. It looks as if from the above responses though that she's got little chance of winning this one.
Due to the fact she's worked there for a long time I thought they may just be trying to get out of a redundancy payment, as the majority of the rest of the staff speak little english and seem quite happy to do whatever they're told! So they've taken a real dislike to her and another colleague who are rightfully questioning what's going on.
I think I may see if I can get everything together and have a 30 min session with a specialist solicitor to see if she has any sort of case at all.
We have now got hold of her contract of employment which specifically refers to the current hours she works and states the amount of hours worked a week.
The reason for the change is because they say they don't need people in that early anymore, she works in a kitchen and have adjusted the breakfast times, so I can absolutely see from their perspective that they don't need anyone in that early.
The only reason I thought she may have a case is that her contract of employment specifically refers to the hours. It looks as if from the above responses though that she's got little chance of winning this one.
Due to the fact she's worked there for a long time I thought they may just be trying to get out of a redundancy payment, as the majority of the rest of the staff speak little english and seem quite happy to do whatever they're told! So they've taken a real dislike to her and another colleague who are rightfully questioning what's going on.
I think I may see if I can get everything together and have a 30 min session with a specialist solicitor to see if she has any sort of case at all.
Well if it's a significant enough change of hours, which this is from Monday-Friday 6:30-3:00 to now include evenings and weekends, then I didn't think it would be as straightforward for them to just change the hours and that's it, no consultation etc!
I guess what I'm getting at is maybe they can do this, but there are ways in which you do it, which they seem to have totally disregarded and are basically trying to bully the MiL...
I guess what I'm getting at is maybe they can do this, but there are ways in which you do it, which they seem to have totally disregarded and are basically trying to bully the MiL...
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