Can My Employer Change My Contract?

A contract is a two-sided agreement. It cannot be changed without agreement between both sides. But some employers look for ways to force changes on workers.

• They might slip a term into a written contract, the Written Particulars or a Company Handbook "reserving" the right to change the contract. If you let this go unchallenged, you may find yourself in difficulties. Your ETAS Direct representative can contact your employer to say this is not a term of your contract.
  
• They might dismiss you and offer you a new contract of employment, containing the terms they want to impose. If you accept the new contract (even "under protest"), you are bound by its terms. However, because your old contract was terminated by the employer, you can lodge an unfair dismissal complaint (even though you are still at work). See below for advice on unfair dismissal.
• They might "unilaterally impose" different terms (without dismissing you). If the change does not affect the way the contract currently operates (e.g. the employer revokes your enhanced redundancy pay), you should write to your employer refusing to accept the reduction in terms.
• However the new term might have an immediate impact, e.g. a new shift system. In that case, you should not continue to work "under protest", because that is incompatible with rejecting the new term. Provided the change is substantial, you can treat it as a dismissal, combined with an offer of a new contract, as above. So you should write to your employer saying you regard the change as fundamentally breaching your contract and amounting to a dismissal; that you regard yourself as dismissed; but that you accept the changes as an offer of a new contract, which you will accept under protest and in mitigation of your loss. You can then continue to work, while lodging an unfair dismissal complaint. But this is a very tricky area. Ask your ETAS Direct representative for help.

Unfair dismissal complaints are always difficult to win, particularly when they concern the unilateral imposition of worse terms and conditions. Your ETAS Direct representative will consider the following questions: Did the employer have a genuine business reason for the change (even if you disagree with it)

• Did that reason merit such serious changes to your contract?
• Did the employer genuinely try to reach agreement on the changes?
• Were the changes accepted by a majority of your colleagues?

Special rules apply to changes imposed by a new employer after a Transfer of an Undertaking, e.g. sale of a business, or contracting-out. A special law known as "TUPE", says that such changes are not binding, even if agreed by the workforce, because European law guarantees the same terms and conditions under the new employer. Your ETAS Direct representative has access to specialist advice on TUPE through its specialist Employment Law Barristers.