Changing an employment contract
Making changes
Once employers have agreed on changes with their staff, they need to:
- update the terms of their employees’ ‘written statement’ of employment conditions
- write to their employees within a month to tell them exactly what has changed
If an employer changes terms and conditions that are not in the written statement (for example the right to sick leave), they should tell their employees where to find information about the change. This could be in a company handbook, noticeboard or intranet site.
Collective agreements
Employers must write to their staff to let them know about any changes to collective agreements with trade unions or staff associations.
These changes might affect the terms of employees’ written statements, including pay and working hours, whether or not they’re a member of the union or staff association.
Flexibility clauses
Flexibility clauses are terms in a contract that give employers the right to change some conditions of employment, for example relocation.
Employers can only use flexibility clauses to make reasonable changes.
Example
An employer could not use a flexibility clause to insist on an employee moving to another country to work with 1 week’s notice.
Changes of employer
If someone starts working for a different employer, they’ll normally have to be given a new written statement within 2 months.
However, if the name of a business changes or there’s a new employer but no other changes in terms and conditions, the employer does not need to issue a new written statement. They still need to write to their staff about the changes within a month.
Disciplinary measures
Sometimes changes to an employee’s terms and conditions, like a demotion, can happen as a result of a disciplinary measure.
Employers should make sure the staff handbook or intranet site contains information about how this could happen in the section dealing with disciplinary procedures.