| Sometimes an employer may wish to change the terms and conditions of employment for a group of staff as the business develops and that may not be a very easy process. Where any change is purely positive – for example, a pay increase or an uplift in the holiday entitlement – then that is not a problem and the change can just be imposed, as no-one is going to object. However, if the change is not purely positive, then that can prove challenging.
For instance, it could be that a warehouse and distribution business may want to expand its working hours and move staff onto a shift system. Or it could be that an employer wants to bring in longer notice periods for more senior staff members. Whatever the nature of the change, the starting point is that it can only be achieved by mutual agreement. So employer and employee would both need to agree to the change, which would normally be confirmed in writing.
Where the same change needs to be achieved with a group of staff, the normal procedure is to explain to the staff what you are trying to achieve and set out the details of the proposed change. You would then consult with staff with a view to reaching agreement. Clearly that is more likely to be achieved if there is something in it for them – so making the change a condition of a receiving a pay rise, for example, is more likely to succeed.
Hopefully, most staff will accept the change and there will be only a few employees who refuse. In that case the employer may choose to dismiss them with notice and offer them the new terms to take effect from the end of the notice period, with no break in service. The risk, of course, is that those who are dismissed in this way will claim the dismissal is unfair and the employer will need to argue that the dismissal was fair on the grounds of “some other substantial reason”.
As you can gather, this process can be quite confrontational and some employers in recent years have been rather quick to use it, citing business requirements that may seem a little opportunistic.
ACAS has now released a draft Code of Practice which sets out a good practice approach to this matter. The Code, once launched, will have legal status, and if an employer fails to comply with it, it will be taken into account in any related unfair dismissal claims and could result in an uplift to any compensation awarded of up to 25%. Currently the Government is consulting about the Code before it is finalised and will bring it into force “when Parliamentary time allows”. So watch this space!
The closing date for the consultation is 18th April 2023. |
