Changing your Employees' Terms of Employment
A proposal by an employer to change its employees’ terms and conditions of employment can often meet more resistance from employees than a redundancy proposal. Such proposals are also almost guaranteed to give unions a recruiting platform and can lead to bitterly fought disputes, British Airways being a topical example. So how to approach this:
Approaching the Danger Zone!
- Be aware of the terms of any collective or employee agreements regarding consultation obligations and collectively agreed terms;
- Factor consultation with unions and staff into any timelines (N.B. if 20 plus staff are affected there is a statutory requirement to consult with appropriate representatives which can be up to 90 days in length before you even start discussions with individual employees.
- Look at the timing of your announcement – if your proposals could lead to industrial action is there a less damaging time of the year for that to occur?
- Be clear as to your business reason(s) for the proposal – if employees refuse to agree the changes you may have to take a decision to dismiss and re-engage employees. If your business reason is weak or unsupported by evidence employees will be able to successfully claim unfair dismissal and/or re-instatement back to their original terms.
- Consider if the change of terms and conditions is an alternative proposal to redundancy – if so you may be better to start off with a redundancy proposal and throw changing terms and conditions into the mix as an alternative option.
- Be prepared to be flexible with your initial proposal and consider any “carrots” that can be offered to persuade employees to make the change.
Reduce Your Risk – Take Legal advice
You would expect us to say that! However, please bear in mind:
- Changing terms and conditions is not just a hugely unsettling experience for staff but legally it is a difficult area to ensure your process stays compliant.
- Procedural failures can lead to awards of up to three months gross pay per affected employee (failing to inform and consult) and unfair dismissal claims.
- Where changes impact on certain sections of your employees more than others discrimination claims can arise.
- In addition your written communications with staff and Unions will be critically assessed and a wrong word could lead to the union balloting for industrial action - further down the process the same communications may be assessed by an Employment Tribunal.
We have extensive experience in assisting with such communications and are happy to help. If you are considering changes to your employees’ terms and conditions please contact Partner and employment law specialist Sara Barrett for a FREE initial telephone consultation on 0161 234 8848 or email sarabarrett@georgedavies.co.uk
