Office Move - permanent place of work movement

[Gregmitchell]

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone has contract or employment law experience with the following please?

To set the scene, my company is relocating my office from Oxfordshire to London, I’ve agreed in an email that I will change my office location to London for x days a week and have been compensated to that effect. The change is happening in the near future according to the letter I’ve received, now.... I’m having second thoughts about this... where do I stand? If I hand my notice in can I be made to go into the London office during those 3 months? Can I wind back the clock to mediation like other staff have had? Scratching my head a little on this one.

Thanks

[Fatherofdragons]

Short answer is it depends, on:

How long ago was it agreed?
Have you been receiving the £ for new arrangement?
How much notice did you get of the most recent notification?
Did you get enough time to make original decision?

Bottom line is there is no provision in employment law for reneging on an expressly agreed contractual term providing agreed in good faith with no coercion. However you would be arguing that the process to arrive at this point was not 'reasonable' (key term in emp law) and as such you were not provided with adequate info to make informed decision.

First port of call though would be understanding the business levers at play behind the move and seeing if you can provide alternatives (e.g. Work from home and travel to London sporadically).

I'm a bit confused on mediation though behind an office move? I lead an HR operation and mediation is great but best used when a relationship or such like has broken down.

All told though I don't think you have anything to lose by exploring the informal possibility of a more flexible arrangement. Virtual working is the way forward now and more and more orgs embracing it to save on overhead costs.

If that doesn't fly then go down the reasonable notice etc route. If that doesn't move forward then submit your notice at the same time as a grievance about the process and stipulate office move should be held in abeyance pending outcome that way you can't be moved whilst looking for another gig otherwise they risk constructive dismissal/breach of contract claim.

Good luck.