Job contract?

[ukmtk]

I have a job contract that is over 20 years old.
I never received any amendments to it when things have changed.

I agreed with my line manager to become a home worker 17 years ago.
I normally visit the office 1 day every 2 to 4 weeks - just for some human interaction.
I only work with teams in other countries (Germany/India) - nobody in the UK.

Legally - has this now become part of my normal working terms & conditions?
By implication part of my contract?

Any answers greatly appreciated!
We are in the process of being taken over.

[BullDog]

I have a job contract that is over 20 years old.
I never received any amendments to it when things have changed.

I agreed with my line manager to become a home worker 17 years ago.
I normally visit the office 1 day every 2 to 4 weeks - just for some human interaction.
I only work with teams in other countries (Germany/India) - nobody in the UK.

Legally - has this now become part of my normal working terms & conditions?
By implication part of my contract?

Any answers greatly appreciated!
We are in the process of being taken over.

I think the answer is probably yes. At least morally if not strictly legally.

There is legislation about this. It's called the TUPE Regulations. It says -

Under TUPE, the new employer takes over employees’ employment contracts, including:

all the previous terms and conditions of employment
any failures of the previous employer to observe employees’ rights (so employees could make a claim for discrimination against the new employer, even if it took place before the transfer)
holiday entitlement
period of continuous employment - an employee’s start date is the same as before the transfer, so continuous employment is not broken
any collective agreements previously made

It’s a breach of contract if the new employer does not meet the terms of the employment contract.

From here -

https://www.gov.uk/transfers-takeovers

Hope that helps.

[Gerry557]

I'm not a solicitor but know of a similar situation. The home working was described as temporary by the owners rather than normal. Whilst the business was being sold.

A new manager required all staff to sign new contracts prior to it being sold. Some of the staff refused. It was other things in the contracts and new job descriptions that were disagreed with. Some were quite minor like being able to use the printer/photocopier for occasional personal use. I think the wording was along the lines of all previous benefits were ending and had to be renegotiated with the new owners.

I think the owners were just trying to get their ducks in a row and responding to their advisers but with poor man management skills. Unfortunately it became confrontational. There was talk of bullying and constructive dismissal.

As the process progressed the buyers became aware of the issue with what we key staff to the small organisation. It helped that the staff member had emails proving that home working was the normal and it wasn't a temporary situation.

I think the owners thought it would be a simple case of staff just signing the new contracts but as the staff questioned things in that contract they were told "it didn't mean that" but then wouldn't change the wording. The owners were under pressure anyway and instead of dealing with the issues, just made it worse by the way it was handled.

The upshot was the buyers delt with the situation. Removed the signing of the new contracts, removed contact with the owners and the manager and saw the situation for what it was.

Things could have been much different if the buyers had walked away or the key staff had been either sacked or walked. The business would definitely had struggled without them possibly folded.

How that helps you I'm not sure. I remember discussing union involvement and if there was legal advice cover on the house insurance.

Still businesses need to evolve from time to time and often the bigger they are the easier it is to get alternative staff. The also have better HR.

Hopefully your situation can be resolved amicably

[dionaeamuscipula]

I have a job contract that is over 20 years old.
I never received any amendments to it when things have changed.

I agreed with my line manager to become a home worker 17 years ago.
I normally visit the office 1 day every 2 to 4 weeks - just for some human interaction.
I only work with teams in other countries (Germany/India) - nobody in the UK.

Legally - has this now become part of my normal working terms & conditions?
By implication part of my contract?

Any answers greatly appreciated!
We are in the process of being taken over.

Here is what ACAS have to say.:

https://www.acas.org.uk/employment-cont ... a-contract

So the prime answer is "yes". However, your employer should have confirmed the change to you in writing.

If you are concerned about this in the context of a takeover, then I would be tempted to suggest to whoever deals with HR that the presence of agreed but undocumented terms of employment might produce a due diligence issue and it might be better for them to confirm the change in writing now as they are required by law. They may decide, however, that this is better left for the buyers to find out in due course.

DM (not an HR pro, but done a bit)

[ukmtk]

Another issue that will cost me a lot of money is the following.

The company I currently work for had a DB scheme that pays out at 60 (which I now receive).
The scheme closed at 60 and then pays 35% of basic salary into a pension if you continue working )I pay 2% and company 33%).
As this is classed as an occupational pension this is not protected by TUPE.

The amount of money involved is significant - especially if I were to replace it taxed at 40%.
So when I transfer I'm expected to do the same job despite suffering a significant reduction to my combined pay and benefits.
Obviously the new company does not have such a generous pension scheme.
I'm not a happy bunny.

[dionaeamuscipula]

Another issue that will cost me a lot of money is the following.

The company I currently work for had a DB scheme that pays out at 60 (which I now receive).
The scheme closed at 60 and then pays 35% of basic salary into a pension if you continue working )I pay 2% and company 33%).
As this is classed as an occupational pension this is not protected by TUPE.

The amount of money involved is significant - especially if I were to replace it taxed at 40%.
So when I transfer I'm expected to do the same job despite suffering a significant reduction to my combined pay and benefits.
Obviously the new company does not have such a generous pension scheme.
I'm not a happy bunny.

If its not covered by TUPE then there's not much that you can do other than negotiate or leave.

I think you would find it difficult to replicate that benefit at another employer.

DM

[ukmtk]

Although it may not be covered by TUPE it would be nice if they made up for it in some way.
To me it is worth £15K in my pocket - a not insignificant sum.
I'm not expecting it to be replicated in full - 50% pension contributions would be fine by me.

I'm fortunate as I'm a core developer on one of the main products that are reason for the takeover.
I would have thought they would prefer a happy developer to a disgruntled one?
Contractually I only have to work 7.5 hours per day and I work more than that for "free".