Told I wasn't allowed to apply for a job by my employer

[Guest]

In the past few years the company I work for has been sold to become part of a larger group, since this the company itself has seen a sharp rise in profits matched by a sharp rise in complaints of poor working conditions and poor treatment from all shop floor employees, I work in the machine shop and have seen a 60% cut of our already tiny budget that is supposed to cover all repairs while our workload has drastically increased, expected to assist production at a moments notice then criticised when jobs don't get done because we were busy running production.

In short the company has become a terrible place to work and is only getting worse and this is where the issue comes in; recently a job opened up for a much better position working directly for the main group, after looking to apply for this job I was told in no uncertain terms by my employer that my application would be thrown out without consideration because I already worked for a company that was part of the group. Essentially the only chance I'd have would be to quit my current job first, after mentioning this to a few others it was pointed out that at the very least this seemed like a bit of a legal grey area so I was hoping someone would be a little better informed than us regarding this one.

Thanks, Jon

[2222]

" it was pointed out that at the very least this seemed like a bit of a legal grey area" - I can't see why, but there are employment experts around. I've tagged one below.

There are only certain criteria that are illegal discrimination (age, gender, religion, race), and you are not being discriminated against in that way. It's hard to see that this constitutes a fundamental breakdown of the trust between employer and employee. I can't see anything wrong, I'm afraid, but I'm no expert on this.

Ula

[ULA]

Is there a company policy about not applying for other jobs within the group of companies? Who told you that you could not apply for the position in the main group? My experience is that most companies do encourage internal applications for positions. I suggest that at the very least you contact the HR department of the main company and find out if they are happy to consider applications from staff in different companies of the group for that position. Once you know their response you can then decide what you want to do.

However if they would consider your application I cannot see why you would have to resign first. You would not do that if you were seeking a job outside of your company/group, logically you would secure a new position first and then hand in your notice. Also if you are moving effectively within the "group" it may even be considered and as internal transfer from one company to another.

[verity540]

Find another job in another (rival) company, tell them to stick their modern day slave labour where sun don't shine. Then throw a cornish pasty on bosses floor, walk out like a BOSS.

[Guest]

To elaborate a bit, in the past the company has had issues with a large number of employees leaving to go work for other companies that were part of the group it was previously part of, apparently the declining conditions are nothing new, just the sale has accelerated them.
From what I can understand (though this is mainly just word of mouth) there is an agreement that no employees will be 'poached' from my current employer, in practice this just means if you want to advance through company ranks any further than the small factory I'm in or go work for a company in the same industry you're out of luck since a large number of them are owned by the same group.
As such the only way to get a better job anywhere else in this fairly huge (and apparently good to work for) group would be to quit my current job before even applying, which rightly would make anyone nervous

like I said i didn't know if there was any employee rights legislation that make this was legally dodgy or if it is just morally dodgy

[ULA]

Thanks for the further explanation. I am sorry to hear that there is this agreement of no poaching from your company to the main company. Unfortunately there is no employment legislation I am aware of that makes this illegal.

I would always caution against anyone leaving a job without another one to go to. Are your skills transferable to another company, even in a different industry, if where you work has become that difficult to work in.

[2222]

Are you in a union?