My employer wants to change my hours, location or other terms of my contract - what are my rights? - Working Families (2024)

(fire and rehire) template letter of protest

(varying existing terms) template letter of protest

If yourwrittencontract is outofdate or does not accurately reflect how you work, it is a good idea toset out your understanding of youremploymentagreement with your employerand write downanything you haveverballyagreedaround yourworking pattern.

Your employment contract can include both terms that are written down and terms that are not. For example, if you have worked a certain pattern or in a particular location for a long time with your employer’s approval and your employer then tried to change this work pattern, thenyou would seek to arguethatthis pattern of workispart of your contract through even if it is not inthewritten contract.

Your contract may also include‘custom and practice’ terms, whichare often unwritten. This type of term could become part of the employment contract, if it is regularly adopted (e.g., a regular practice for a significant period of time) and is customary in your workplace.

For example, an employee could expect to continue working 9am to 5pm, even if their contract says their hours are on a shift basis, if they have been working that way with their employer’s agreement for a significant period of time. However, if you are only working 9am to 5pm temporarily to help you arrange childcare, then it is unlikely that this temporary change would form a permanent term of your contract.

While you can argue that verbal or ‘custom and practice’ terms are part of your contract of employment, it is much easier to avoid a dispute if your contract is up to date and terms are written down. So if your working pattern/location is different to what was originally written in your contract, ask your employer to update it. You can askfor your employer to provide you withupdatedemploymentparticularswhich reflect your current agreement.

All employers are required togive their employees and workers a document setting out the main conditions of their employmentor engagementwhen they start work. This is known as a ‘written statement of employment particulars’. You can ask your employer for your written particulars. Seeouremployment contract pagefor more detail on your rightsin this area.

If you don’t have anything in writing, thinkabout what has been agreed verbally between you and your employeras it islikely tostillbepart ofyour employmentcontract. If you have worked a certain pattern or in a particular location for a long time with your employer’s approval, then this pattern of work may form part of your contract even if it is not in writing.

If there is aterm in your contract which allows your employer tochangeyour terms without youragreement, sometimes called a“variation clause”, this only isgenerally allowed to be used for reasonable changes of a minor and non-detrimental nature.

The variation or flexibility clause usually must be very specific in order for the employer to use it. For instance, if your employer wants you to work weekends, but you haveonly previously worked weekdays, the clause should say the employer reserves the right to ask you to work weekends under certainspecificcirc*mstances.

Employers are unlikely to be able to rely on broadly written flexibility clauses to make anything other thansmalladministrative changes that are not detrimental to you. For instance, your contract might say broadly that your employer reserves the right to change your hours of work. If that is the case, they may not be able to require you to work weekends if you have never done so before,particularlyif that change would be difficult foryou (e.g.becauseof your caring responsibilities).

If your employer is seeking to change your hours or relocate youunder a specific clause, whilst this might not appear to the employer to be a big change, it may have a negative impact on youand your family life oritmay impactyour childcare arrangements and you should alert them to this in writing.

Depending on the nature of the change, and its impact on you, you therefore may still be able to protest the change (see below) and make a claim even if your contract has a variation, mobilityor flexibility clause.

If you are unsure, you should seek advice.

Flexible working agreements made after a statutory flexible working request form a permanent change to your contract, even if this is not written down, unless otherwise agreed e.g. where you and your employer agreed for it to be temporary or on a trial basis. If you work flexibly and you never made a statutory request, the change may also have become a part of your contract through custom and practice. See ‘My contract does not accurately describe my hours/location’ above.

If you have a flexible working agreement in place, your employer can only change your flexible working agreement with your consent. If you do not agree to the change, you can protest and bring claims against your employer (see below).

If you are unsure, you should seek advice.

Many employers changed terms because of the economic impact and rules in place to protect public health due to COVID-19. Employers may need to make changes to adjust to make workplaces COVID secure or to allow for homeworking, or may have opted to change contracts as an alternative to redundancy where there is a reduced demand for a particular type of work. Many employees were furloughed and returned to work but find that their employer is now offering different hours, work on different daysor lower pay. Many people accepted Covid-19 related changes that they understood were on a temporary basis but unless this is clear and in writing, employers may seek to argue that they are or have become permanent. If this applied to you, seek advice. You may also want to keep the changes that have been in place e.g. if your caring responsibilities/childcare arrangements would be impacted and so recommend making a flexible working request if your employer is seeking to return to old ways of working, or requiring you to return to the office. If you are happy with thechangesyou may seek a more permanent arrangement and expressly request that this becomes permanent – seeour flexible working guidance for more information.

Whenever dealing with your employer over employment matters it’s always best to put things in writing, so you can keep a copy of all messages you send and keep a copy of their responses. When you write to your employer, if your employer hasn’t given you any notice about the changes, or hasn’t consulted with you in any way to seek your agreement you should mention this in your letter or email.

Top Tip: Whenever you have any conversation with your employer about your employment, send yourself an email summarising the conversation so you have a note with a time stamp, and also follow up in writing to confirm the agreement if your employer doesn’t do this. It is also sensible to make sure you can access copies of emails that relate to your personal HR arrangements and your employment contract from your own personal email in addition to your work email, but be aware that you are not sharing company confidential information or data in breach of your employers policies when doing this.

If you are prepared to continue to work but disagree with the change, you should tell your employer and state in writing that you’re working ‘under protest’ until the problem is resolved. We have two different letters of protest that you can use depending on the circ*mstances. This shows that you have not agreed but you are prepared to try and work things out informally with your employer. Youshouldobject without delay as soon as you know about the change.

If you carry on working as normal without telling your employer you don’t agree, it may be taken as evidence that you have agreed to the change. There may be an argument that you have not agreed in cases where you try the new working arrangements and then protest once you realise the impact will be so adverse that you cannot accept it.

You can use this (fire and rehire) template letter of protest if you have been told by your employer that you will be dismissed and offered a new contract with the changes your employer is wanting to make and you do not accept the changes. Alternatively if your employer is seeking to or has already imposed a change on you or where your employer is seeking to rely on a variation clause and you disagree that the clause permits your employer to make the proposed change, you can use this (varying existing terms) template letter of protest. In both cases, your letter should state that you believe your employer has breached your contract of employment (or unlawfully terminated your previous contract in the case of fire and rehire) and (if appropriate) that the changes also amount to unlawful discrimination due to your child care responsibilities or disability (see below) and that you are working under protest.

You can also include why this is having such a negative impact on you. This is particularly important if the change is having a negative impact on you as a result of your child care responsibilities or a disability as the changes to your terms and conditions may be discriminatory. If you have a union or an employee representative, they can make these protests on yourbehalf. You may then continue to negotiate with your employer to seek to resolve the issue.

If you can’t work under protest (under the new terms), you may choose tell your employer that you won’t or can’t accept the change.  An example of this may be where you have been told that your shift has changed to a night shift and you don’t have childcare. You should ask your employer why they are making these changes and suggest alternatives that you could do and let them know in writing why you can’t work the new shift pattern. 

If you reject the change and refuse to comply with the new terms, you would continue to work in accordance with your existing or original terms of employment. However, you may be putting your employment relationship at risk and your employer may start disciplinary or dismissal proceedings against you.

If you were to be dismissed, depending on the circ*mstances and the seriousness of the change, you may have a claim for wrongful dismissal, unfair dismissal or even discrimination . You should seek legal advice if you are considering this option and where you are considering bringing a claim against your employer. It may be that a dismissal in these circ*mstancescould be seen by an Employment Tribunal as a fair dismissal, depending on the reason for the change.

If the change your employer made was so serious or bad that it is a fundamental breach and you felt you had no choice but to resign you may seek to bring a claim for constructive dismissal (seemore below). This is a high-risk option and you should seek legal advice before resigning.

It may be that your employer will dismiss you for your refusal to agree to the new terms giving you a potential unfair dismissal claim. Whereas in constructive dismissal, it is for you as the employee to prove that your employer’s breach of contract was so serious that it terminated the employment contract. This is averydifficult claim to bring and there is no guarantee the Tribunal will agree with you.

From a financial point of view, as soon as you resign toclaimconstructive dismissal your employment relationship and your contract is over immediately(asyou would notordinarilygive notice)and you would therefore no longer be entitled to pay or benefits. In the short-term, you will lose your income if you don’t have another job lined up to go to.

If your employer tells you they are changing your terms without your agreement, and there is no variation clause in your contract allowing your employer to do this, then this is a breach of contract. It may still be a breach of contract if you have a variation clause in your contract, but the particular change they are trying to impose is not specifically and clearly referenced and/or the change is unreasonable and detrimental to you.

If you are still employed and working under protest, you would need to bring a claim for breach of contract against your employer in the civil courts if you believe they have not given you the current period of notice required under your contract. This is because the Employment Tribunal is limited to contractual claims that arise or are outstanding on the termination of employment, so the tribunal cannot consider a claim for breach of contract while your contract is still running. Be careful though – claims in the civil courts carry the risk of costs if they fail, and even if you win a breach of contract claim you will most likely only get a small amount of money. If you lose, you may be required to pay your employer’s legal fees for defending the claim.

In practice, it can be hard to bring a claim against your current employer whilst you remain in employment because your relationship is likely to break down. For these reasons, unless it is for a significant amount, it is often not worth bringing a breach of contract claim unless you have left your employment and can combine it with another claim in the Employment Tribunal (i.e.unfair dismissal, discrimination or constructive dismissal).

If your employer tries to force you to accept the change and dismisses you if you do not accept the change, depending on the circ*mstances you may have a claim for unfair dismissal if you have been employed for more than one year and 51 weeks.

It may also be a dismissal if your employer makes a very substantial change to the terms and conditions of your contract of employment without your agreement (for example significantly downgrading your role), meaning that in legal terms, you have effectively been dismissed and re-employed under a new contract. In this circ*mstance you may also have a claim for unfair dismissal evenwhereyou accept the offer and remain employed on the new terms.

If you claim unfair dismissal in circ*mstances where you were fired and immediately offered to be rehired on new terms, your employer may be able to argue that you have not suffered any losse.g.loss of earnings, as you remain employed or that you could have mitigated(lessened)your loss if you had accepted the terms, but this will depend on whether the new terms involve any drop in income for you and the impact on your caring arrangements.

Your employer may be able to justify their actionse.g.if this was an alternative to redundancy. If you are dismissed or forced into accepting new terms of employment, we recommend that seek further advice straight away.

Where your employer proposes to dismiss (and offer to re-hire on new terms) 20 or more employees, the obligation to collectively consult with employees will apply.

As collective consultation requires your employer to meet very specific obligations, if they do not do so, you could have a claim for failure to inform and consult depending on exactly what the failure is. You should take legal advice if your employer has failed to follow these rules, as you may have a claim for a protective award. Failure to comply with the collective consultation obligations may result in the employer being ordered to pay a protective award of up to 90 days’ pay to each affected employee.The employer is also required to notify the Secretary of State and failure to do so can result in a fine and is a criminal offence.

For information on collective consultation, see our page here: Collective Consultation when your employer dismisses over 20 employees. If you believethat your employer has failed to meet these obligations, we recommend that you take legal advice.Strict time limits will apply.

If the contractual change is so serious that it is a fundamental breach and you feel you have no choice but to resign, you may seek to bring a claim for constructive dismissal. This is a high-risk option, and you should seek legal advice first.

We would not recommend resigning, but rather continue to work under protest and seek to reach agreement whilst protecting your employment wherever possible. This is because in constructive dismissal, it is for you to prove that your employer’s breach of contract was so serious that you considered the contract was terminated by your employer. There is no guarantee the Tribunal will agree with you.Having said that, continuing to work for too long (even under protest) can undermine your argument that the breach is so serious that you had no choice but to resign.

If you decide to take this route, you must state that your employers breach of contract was so serious that you have no choice, you can no longer work for your employer and state that you have been forced to resign. You should set out the background to what has happened and why this was such a fundamental breach for you. To prove constructive dismissal, it is not enough to show that your employer behaved unreasonably. You have to show:

• that your employer’s conduct was in fundamental breach of your employment contract; and   
• that it was your employer’s actions which caused you to resign – or was the main reason for your resignation (not some other reason, such as being offered another job).  

In most circ*mstances, you can only bring a claim at the Employment Tribunal for constructive dismissal if you have been employed by your employer for at least one year and 51 weeks. There is an exception if you have been discriminated against, or if your employer is imposing a change to your contract because you have exercised a statutory right. In that case, you can bring a claim against your employer regardless of how long you have worked for them, because the dismissal would be ‘automatically unfair’. 

Timing is key: If you choose to resign because you really feel you have no choice it is important that you do not delay, or this may be taken as evidence that you have agreed to the breach of contract or it undermines your argument that it is so serious a breach. If you decide this is your only option, when you terminate yourcontract to claim unfair dismissal, you must make it clear (in writing) that you had to resign and consider the contract to have been terminated immediately because of theemployersactions (rather than resigning in accordance with the contract), otherwise you may not be able to claim constructive dismissal.

You may be able to claim indirect sex discrimination in relation toachange if itisforced upon youand results in your beingsubjected you to a disadvantagebecause ofyour childcare reasons.Working Familiesintervened in the caseofDobsonin the Employment Appeal Tribunal,which confirmed thatwomen bear the greater burden of childcare responsibilities thanmen and that this can limit their ability to work certain hours and shift patterns. This is called the “childcare disparity”.

Additionally, recent changes to the Equality Act have opened up the possibility of men with child care responsibilities also being able to bring indirect discrimination claims if they can demonstrate that the change will have a disproportionate impact women and that they suffer substantially the same disadvantage as a result of their own child care responsibilities. Please see here for more information on discrimination.

If your employerhasa good business reason for the change and that their actions are proportionate, thenthey may have a defence to yourclaim for discrimination. At the tribunalyour employer would have to clearly showthat their actions were in legal terms “a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”. In summary this means:

• That there was a genuine business reason for the change; and
• That it was necessary to change your way of working,even whenconsidering the effect on you personally.

So, even if thereisa genuine need for the change your employer would need to look at other ways of organising the work so that you personally donot have to change your terms, for example, employing an additional part-timer to work on certain days instead of requiring you to do it.If there is genuinely no way they could adjust things for you, and it is essential that the change is made, their actions would may be found by an Employment Tribunal to be justifiable.

Generally, a deduction from wages can only lawfully be made if it is authorised by statute, it is authorised by your contract of employment, or you have previously given your written consent to the deduction being made. So, if the change to your terms and conditions is a pay cut or results in reduction of pay or change to holidays/benefits, you may have a claim for unlawful deduction of wages which you can pursue in the Employment Tribunal even if you are still employed.

This is often preferable to a breach of contract claim which would need to be brought in the civil court while your employment is continuing (see above).

If your employer tries to make you work different hours or in a different place,and you cannot comply because of your childcare responsibilities, then you may have a claim for sex discrimination.

We have more information about discrimination here.

Without a mobility clause in your contract, your employer cannot make you move to a different site so far away. If the new place of work is unreasonably far from the current place of work, you should be offeredredundancy. Alternatively, you may also want to explore the option of remote working, and see whether any of your job could be done from home if you did want to stay with the company.

Even if there is a mobility clause in your contract, this can usually only be relied upon for changes that are non-detrimental in nature. The extra distance may also have such an impact on your childcare responsibilities that, if you are a woman, this could be indirect sex discrimination, more information above.

If you are unsure, you should seek advice on your options.

Unfortunately, yes.Your employer can dismissemployees who refuse to agreeto the changes to their employment contract. They wouldstillneed to follow a fair procedureif they aredismissing you.

If you are dismissed because you refused to agree to a change in your contract oryou refused to sign a new contract, and youhavebeen employed fortwo years or more,you may have a claim for unfair dismissal.

An EmploymentTribunal would look at all the factors surrounding the change and the decision to dismiss youto decide if the dismissal was unlawful,including:

• the employer’s reasons for the change
• the way in which the dismissal was carried out

A change in the business,oryour employer wanting toharmonise terms and conditions can be a fair reason for dismissal.Tribunalsgive employers a lot of discretion about how best to run their business.

But your dismissal would be unfair if you could show that youwere dismissed because of discrimination.If discrimination hasoccurred,youalsodon’t need two years’ serviceto bring a claim.You should seeklegaladvice if this happens to you.

Normally, you should object without delay as soon as you know about the change. If you carry on working as normal without telling your employer you don’t agree, it may be taken as evidence that you have agreed to the change. There may be some allowance where you try the new working arrangements and then protest once you realise the impact will be so adverse that you cannot accept it.

However, in cases where achangeto the employment contractdid not have an immediate effect on an employee, the courts found that an employee’s failure to object did not mean that they were then bound by the contractual term.

If this happens to you, you should make it clear to your employer as soon as possible that you did not agree to the change,andthat youcontinuing to work was not an agreement to the change. You should alsoseek legal advice.

It is difficult to say, because sometimes continuing to work might be seen as you accepting the change. But we think that as long as you make it clear that you do not accept the change even though you are continuing to work, you could protest for a reasonable amount of time. You should make it clear that you do not agree to the change in writing, in a letter of protest. Please see above for links to downloadable letters of protest you can use.

In a case called Rigby v Ferodo, employees managed to protest the change to their employment contracts for a number of months. Every case will be different and there is no strict time limit – the important thing is to protest in writing. It may be wise to re-confirm your protest every few weeks. This is an area of law where the limits are not clear cut. You should seek legal advice if you are in this situation.

An exception to the principle that you personally must agree to any changes to your contract is when a trade union makes agreements on behalf of all workers.

If your contract says that aunioncan bargain on behalf of all the workers in a workplace, you may be bound to a change that the union agrees to on your behalf. This is still the case even if you personally don’t agree with the new contract term. You should seek legal advice if this is your situation, because you may still have other claims.

For more information, see our article on the Law when a Collective Bargaining Agreement Changes your Contract

Ifyour employer made a significant change to your contract without your agreement,and youresigned as a direct result of thischange, you may be able to argue thatyouremployer’s insistence on the changeeffectively ended the contract and left you with no choice except to resign.

In legal terms this is called aconstructive dismissal. You may also be able to argue it was a deemed dismissal. If a tribunal is satisfied that your employer’s actions were effectively a dismissal, it will then go on to consider whether the dismissal was unfair.  Constructive dismissal and deemed dismissal can be complicated and difficult to prove,so you should always seeklegaladvice before resigning.

It depends on the circ*mstances. A redundancy only happens for one ofthree reasons:

1. your place of work closes or moves, either temporarily orpermanently;
2. the type of work you do will no longer be done at your place of work; or
3. fewer employees are needed to do theparticular type of workthat you do.

If none of these apply, thenyou should not be made redundant.

If a genuine changein the nature of youremployer’s business meansthatthere is lessneed for employees to do the type of work you do in the place of work where you do it, you should normally be offered redundancy. If your employer changes your place of work and the contract doesn’t allow this, you may be made redundant. New terms are often offered as an alternative to redundancy.

However,redundancy does not apply to where you are being asked to do more hours, ortowork at different times.

If there is a redundancy situation, your employer would have tofollowthe usualfairredundancyprocedure,and you would be entitled to a redundancy payment if you have more than two years’ service.Ifyou are singled out for redundancy and you suspect you have been selected instead ofothers because of your working hours or childcare responsibilities, this could be unfair and discriminatory.  Pleaseseeklegaladvice.

There is more information on our redundancy page. We also have advice on what to do if you are under threat of redundancy.

If a change is of great importance to your employer and it cannot be agreed, your employer may give notice to terminate your old contract and offer you a contract on the new terms. If the employer fails to follow a fair procedure in doing this, it may give rise to unfair dismissal and discrimination claims.

However, the offer of re-employment may mitigate (lessen) your loss which will limit what you can claim in an Employment Tribunal, depending on your circ*mstances. It may reduce the amount of money you may be awarded if you bring a claim against your employer.

If you are offered re-employment, you should seek advice before deciding whether to accept or reject the offer.

If your employer is proposing to dismiss (and re-engage) 20 or more employees, the collective consultation obligations under section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 will apply.

As collective consultation requires an employer to meet very specific obligations, you should seek advice if your employer has failed to follow these rules, as you may have a claim for a protective award.

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