Unilateral "reasonable changes" to employment contract

[santboia]

Dear LegalBeagles,

I have been offered a job contract with a new employer, which is great and I look forward working with them.

When going through the contract of employment they offer me, I've found this clause:

The [employer] reserves the right to make reasonable changes to any of your
terms of employment. You will be notified in writing of any change as soon
as possible after that change is agreed.

To me, a contract of employment is an agreement on some set of terms between two parties -- hence giving one of the parties (particularly the employer) the right to change the terms of the agreement unilaterally seems against the spirit of the contract. Is this a standard thing? Is it legal?

I look forward to reading your thoughts and opinions on this.

[ULA]

Hi in a nutshell yes it is legal and many companies do insert such a clause to allow them to make changes to terms of employment. This clause limits itself to "reasonable" changes, however this will inevitably* lead to the question what is "reasonable". Unfortunately this is a term not defined and ultimately if you felt that any change was unreasonable and not in the "spirit" of this clause it would be down to an Employment Tribunal to decide.*

[santboia]

Hi Ula, thanks for your quick reply. Good to know it is legal, and that 'reasonable' is as undefined as I suspected. It's actually good to know they were not trying to write something illegal, even if it may turn out to be fishy!

[ULA]

Glad to help