Additional responsibilities

[Jakes228]

Hi all
I am a duty manager in a huge warehouse in the UK for one of the world's top freight forwarders. As the company is growing our operations manager has been moved to a different dept. The other duty managers (4of us in total) have been told that we have to now take on the operations managers duties and responsibilities, we will get new job descriptions but our titles will stay the same , with no additional pay or benefits. I asked what will happen if I refuse, and was told that I would be demoted and receive a pay cut. The company is growing and we have taken on new business and are currently recruiting more staff. Can they legally do this? I have been in my position for numerous years

[Law Student 7]

Celestine @ula

Employment contracts include duties of trust, confidence and good faith. Your employer may be in breach of the contract if they require you to work extra or take extra duties without any pay rise. You can speak to your HR department about the issue or talk to your trade union. You can also contact Acas for more advice.

[ULA]

Unfortunately, although there is the implied duty of "trust and confidence" in a contract of employment, it is not something that can really be used in this context and provide an automatic right to a pay rise for taking on extra duties and responsibilities.

It sounds like there has been a bit of a restructure by the move of the operations manager and that this role will not be replaced but as you say the duties and responsibilities will pass to the Duty Managers.

Who did you speak to about what would happen if you refused to work in the redefined role?

[Law Student 4]

Celestine ULA A contract of employment contains an implied term of trust and confidence. This means the employer should not conduct itself in a way which is likely to destroy or damage the relationship of confidence and trust between the employer and employee. Therefore, your employer could be in breach of contract for making you carry out extra duties without a pay rise.

[ULA]

Law Student 4 I think you need to ready my post #3