is this a breach of contract?

[piperm]

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum but basically

I've been employed by my firm for 5years now, and they are struggling for work at the minute and theres been some temporary lay offs within the work force do to no work for them.

My contract to the firm states as follows

Basically before when we were laid off we would get the lay off rate whether it be 3days, 5days, 15days etc... But recently they sent a memo round to all operatives stating that if we have anymore than 5days off within a 3month period then we wont get paid for those extra days off.. It is stated on the direct.gov site so it is legit but can they pull this off via memo's without us agreeing to it as they are changing our contracts ??

 

[nickblake]

The only real people that cound answer this would be citezens advise give them a call and have a chat

 

[mogga]

In this current economics the companys are litteraly ripping up stuff like this as they simply cant afford it in the prolonged term see what CAB or the union say but I susspect the company will say its that or redundancys

 

[piperm]

i though so but everywere shuts at 5:00 lol as i just found out.

To be honist i can understand them cutting down as the money is tight at the minute. It wouldnt of been so bad either if it was after christmas and i could probably cope. The only thing thats got my back up is that they decided to impliment it around the 7th December via memo's which i personally havent yet received, and with it been so close to christmas etc.. ive had 7days off over the past 2 weeks and i found out today im not getting paid for 2 of them via a telephone call. Now, i've just had loads of work done on my car, i've got a £200 credit card bill to pay off next week and i got the christmas stuff to buy. I really could do with every penny off them at the minute or atleast a warning shot when they decided to impliment this to say that they are cutting down on the lay off pay so i could get chance to adjust to it.

 

[accordfire]

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum but basically

I've been employed by my firm for 5years now, and they are struggling for work at the minute and theres been some temporary lay offs within the work force do to no work for them.

Basically before when we were laid off we would get the lay off rate whether it be 3days, 5days, 15days etc... But recently they sent a memo round to all operatives stating that if we have anymore than 5days off within a 3month period then we wont get paid for those extra days off.. It is stated on the direct.gov site so it is legit but can they pull this off via memo's without us agreeing to it as they are changing our contracts ??

Jeez.

Employment law, largely thanks to the Labour Government, is a minefield, for both employer and employee.

Essentially, if your company can show that it had good cause to vary your contract (e.g. survival, continuity of employment for all employees), you probably won't have a proverbial leg to stand on.

This is because you would essentially be in an even worse position were the company to cease trading, or have to force redundancy upon you.

Good practice would have been to call a general meeting and discuss the matter with all staff face to face, but perhaps the Directors of your company felt they wouldn't be able to get their side across without altercation, or misunderstanding.

Citizens Advice are likely also to take the view that you should consider yourself better off with reduced employment than none at all, though they may well be able to help you in terms of structuring debt, and talking to some of your creditors on your behalf.

As an IMMEDIATE priority, you should make an appointment to see your local Job Centre/Social Security Office.

With reduced hours, you may be entitled to help with housing benefit, council tax benefit, and you may qualify for further tax credits and help with paying your NI stamp.

It would also be worth taking advice concerning how the company intends to manage its short time working, to ensure that other employees do not work more, or less than you - they should, by rights, have a rota in place to ensure everyone only has to suffer the minimum unpaid time.

Sadly, though, if it has come to short time working, it is unlikely the company has the money to pay you full time wages, even if it wanted to - the only hope for it is that work picks up, or it can restructure its debt such that it can make the money it is earning go further.

It's hard to comment much further than that without knowing the ins and outs of the company or the case, however.

 

[Octopus]

When you go the CAB, be patient and be prepared to wait, especially at the moment. Most of them do it for nothing but I can only say, through experience, that they do want to help and have practical advice for no payment.