Advice on employment law.

[yournamehere]

Hi,

This seems a bit cheeky asking for advice here when I'm not really a contributor to pistonheads but a mate on Scottish Elises (where I am slightly more prolific) suggested here might be a good place to try for help...

My wife, Mrs Yournamehere, has recently been told by her work that her hours are to be increased, effectively by a third. As this will be achieved by extra attendances she'll have to do more days on her new roster than she gets annual leave...

The reasoning behind it is her and her colleagues do not currently work their contracted hours and now they are being made to.

If anyone has any suggestions as how to proceed they would be gratefully received (as I type this it looks to me that we'll have to seek grown up legal advice but hey the internet is always worth a try amongst the other approaches).

Thanks in advance,

[randlemarcus]

First reaction (IANAL) is that if she is being made to work the hours she is contracted to do, then she will have to work those hours, which seems fair to me.

If they are being picky about how long she can work for in one "shift" and effectively asking for multiple visits to work, then are those visits unreasonable, in the context of "she has a job". Granted, she may have formed a life around the current setup, but it's a balance between that and the payslip.

[Terminator X]

Why doesn't she work her contracted hours at the moment?

TX.

[yournamehere]

They were forced to sign a different contract about 10 years ago, and were told it was just a formality and wouldn't affect them. In hindsight this was probably a mistake.

The hours they work currently are pretty much industry standard, the new hours would be very unusual in the industry. For what that's worth.

[randlemarcus]

Sounds a bit like a nice cheap way to reduce some workforce overheads then. More expensive advice might look at whether a ten year old contract amendment that has had no practical impact over that decade was still valid and enforceable, but that's not the internet

Have they collectively objected, and what has been the response?

[yournamehere]

No formal proposal as yet, a boss who is being inconsistent in what he suggests will be the likely outcome. They have an open meeting soon, it's just better to go into such things aware of one's rights. Such as they are.

Speaking to lawyer tomorrow, I just thought I'd try the internet too. Habit more than anything!

[Cyberprog]

If she has been working a different set of hours for a long time, it may well now be that these hours are now her contracted hours, regardless of what the contract actually states, by way of it being what she's been expected to do - i.e. her bosses have allowed the contracted hours to be varied.

[yournamehere]

Cyberprog said:

If she has been working a different set of hours for a long time, it may well now be that these hours are now her contracted hours, regardless of what the contract actually states, by way of it being what she's been expected to do - i.e. her bosses have allowed the contracted hours to be varied.

And that's exactly what we are hoping for. Have you got anything to back this up?

[anonymous-user]

Yes, he has: the law of contract, but it doesn't come in a neat box or tin. If the parties have conducted themselves in a certain way for a long time, their conduct may reflect the actual contract between them. A document agreed ten years ago and not acted on may have been superseded by events. Having said that, it is very foolish ever to sign any agreement that you do not intend to be bound by.

[yournamehere]

Breadvan72 said:

Yes, he has: the law of contract, but it doesn't come in a neat box or tin. If the parties have conducted themselves in a certain way for a long time, their conduct may reflect the actual contract between them. A document agreed ten years ago and not acted on may have been superseded by events. Having said that, it is very foolish ever to sign any agreement that you do not intend to be bound by.

Yes, you're right and there's not really any excuse except to make the best of a bad job TBH. Fortunately the union have taken a bit more of an interest now so hopefully we'll find some resolution.

Thanks for the replies...