Demotion help please

[Canderton]

Hi, my son has recently been demoted, there was no consultation or even a proper meeting regarding this. He had called in sick (has had previous warnings for sick days ((mainly taken due to childcare issues)) and upon his return was told that they have decided to demote him and as such his hours have reduced, but no conversation regarding pay or anything barr he's been demoted. This will now cause him financial difficulties going from full time to part time.

He was on a 37.5hr contract and has now been reduced to 27hrs.

He has not been asked to sign a new contract yet and has been working the 27hrs a week as per their demotion (it's been 2 weeks so far).

Im under the belief that if they've demoted him and he hasnt agreed or signed a contract ,that their under a legal obligation to still pay him his contracted hours and contracted hourly rate. Is this the case?

He has asked for his employment contract but so far they haven't produced this. Is there any legal laws he can use to make them provide his contract?

Any help very much appreciated. Thank you

[echat11]

Has he raised a formal grievance (informally first a chat with his manager) in writing?

Is there a HR Department?

Is he a member of a Union?

[Canderton]

Thank you for your reply.

He hasn't raised a formal grievance although they are aware hes not happy with the demotion.

I am assuming as its been a few weeks that may be too late now?

There isn't a hr department on site (large supermarket chain).

He is not a member of a union but thinks there is a union so will look into this.

He's currently off self certified as his mental health has taken a bashing recently and needs time to get back on top of things, will be chatting to a doctor in next few days and maybe gaining a fit note for longer.

He is due his wage tomorrow but cannot access his payslips through the online system (an issue that work are aware about but still hasn't been resolved) so can't check if his pay is the before rate or had been deducted due to demotion.

The main issues is the pay and contract queries that i stated in first message.

Thank you

[echat11]

a) I am assuming as its been a few weeks that may be too late now?

It isn't too late.

b) There isn't a hr department on site (large supermarket chain).

That's not an issue, but there is a HR department which is good.

c) He is not a member of a union but thinks there is a union so will look into this.

https://www.usdaw.org.uk/

d) He's currently off self certified as his mental health has taken a bashing recently and needs time to get back on top of things, will be chatting to a doctor in next few days and maybe gaining a fit note for longer.

He needs to keep positive, do stuff that he enjoys and that calms him. The GP can suggest 'Talking Therapies' which might help.

e) He is due his wage tomorrow but cannot access his payslips through the online system (an issue that work are aware about but still hasn't been resolved) so can't check if his pay is the before rate or had been deducted due to demotion.

That's something that can be addressed through a 'grievance'.

f) The main issues is the pay and contract queries that i stated in first message.

I think they should be addressed via 'grievance'.

https://www.acas.org.uk/grievance-pr...whistleblowing

No doubt ULA will advise.

[ULA]

The first thing that your son needs to do get clarity on his position and for which he should ask for written confirmation of exactly is role is, what are his hours of work and his hourly rate. He does need to get this as soon as possible given this happened 2 weeks ago. Also when he asks for this which he should do in writing to the branch manager

Was he given a contract of employment when he first joined? Is that what he has asked for or is it the new contract, I am not quite sure what you were referencing in your post.

If so, is there any clause in it about the right to change terms of employment?

Can you confirm how long he has worked at the company.

[Canderton]

Hi,
He is requesting the latest contract that he has agreed and signed (so the contract before the demotion as he hasnt been given a new one yet).

Unfortunately, as they are not replying to his request, we can't check any clauses, etc.

I'll get him to check if with a union and if so to have a chat with them.

I'm assuming it's not as black and white as no new contract means old contract terms (pay and contracted hours) apply.

Thanks

[Canderton]

Oh also he hasn't worked quite 2 years yet, it will be 2 years this mid April

[ULA]

He certainly needs to get a copy of that, I presume there is a Head Office HR it may be worth him asking them to send a copy of his original contract.

No unfortunately not quite black and white at the moment until he can get sight of that original contract.

Just going back to the original reason for the demotion which appears to be for sickness absence:

Did the company know that some of the days were due to childcare issues?
Is your son the main carer?
Also you say he has had warnings in the past for sickness absence what level of warnings were these?

[Canderton]

Hi, company were informed the sick days were due to childcare issues (barr a couple of actual sick days) he isn't the main carer for his daughter but has her 2 to 3 nights a week and helps mum out as much as possible as she has to work also. This is not in question to be honest, it's fully understandable that they've resorted to demoting him it was more the fact he came into work was pulled to side and told very informally he has been demoted and would be working set hours of 27.

Company has given the correct disaplinary for sickness and im assuming it was maybe demotion or sacking hence why no formal greivence has been done.

He is still struggling to gain his employment contract, one manager he was in talks with has now gone on holidays and the other seems to be dragging her feet, her latest communication regarding the contract was "we do not give any colleague a contract this is done by colleagues and has been for a few years".
A request of HR/head office contact details also seems to be falling on deaf ears.

He has found a number online for HR for the company so he is going to try contacting them directly to see if they can send him a copy.

Sorry for the lateness in this reply and thank you for your help

[ULA]

So a couple of things, "we do not give any colleague a contract" is not acceptable as employment legislation required from April 2020 a written statement to be provided to all new employees.

If demotion is going to be the result of disciplinary action then what should have happened was that your son should have been invited to a disciplinary hearing with due notice, details of the allegations and any supporting documents the company was going to rely on provided, given the right to be accompanied and what the potential outcome could be. Clearly this has not happened. In addition once the disciplinary action had been decided and formal confirmation of this given in writing, he has the right of appeal.

I appreciate he does not yet have 2 years service, however if they have chosen to demote as a form of disciplinary action they should have undertaken best practice and gone through the process I have set out above.

He could consider raising a grievance by writing to management / HR and clearly set out that firstly he has not received a copy of his written statement or contract of employment despite requesting this and that secondly disciplinary action has been taken against him with no regard to any process.

[Canderton]

Thank you. I will get him to look up how to raise a greivence and go from there. And also to keep it via messages/emails so that theres a 'paper trail' proving what they are saying.

Would it be best to go straight to the company's HR department or head office or start with his manager? There are various managers in the store so it's confusing who is the actual one to go to in this case.

[ULA]

Is there an overall store manager, if so any grievance should be addressed there and maybe consider copying to HR.

[Canderton]

Hi, He still hasn't been able to gain his employment contract but has had a chat with one of the managers when he went in to hand his fit note in. He is to go back on Tuesday to go through his payslips with this manager (as he has been underpaid for a minimum of the last 3 months as per the 3 payslips the manager has given him) and to hopefully get his long awaited contract. The manager did state that he should be able to gauge what his contract is through his payslips and that as the payslips are stating 37.5 hours he must still be on the supervisor contract.

My question now is as the system has him at a 37.5hr contract are they underpaying him by paying the 27hrs he's been working?

It's hard to gauge how badly they've underpaid him as he has his cycle to work scheme come out of his wages but that payment isnt shown in his payslips or anywhere else. We need to look this up to see if this is correct or how he should be able to see a statement of payments to the cycle to work scheme.

[ULA]

If you son has only be demoted recently as you set out in your original post, then I assume that 3 months of payslips will show what he was earning on a 37.5 hour week. If the most recent payslip or possibly the last two show a lesser pay then pro-rata of his hourly rate you can work out whether he is being now paid for a 27 hour week. Until you have those facts, I would not like to say whether there is any underpayment.

Once again, on the cycle scheme, if this is done as salary sacrifice (a lot but not all schemes are) then this should be set out in his payslip I would have thought. Again this is information that needs to be obtained from the company.