Place of work, Contract

[Dani3l]

Hi,

Im looking for advice with regards to legal place of work and what's written in my contract vs our company business process library.

When i signed my contract i was working in place "A" and for 9 months or so i did work there, Then my boss moved me to place "B", this was due to workload at that place and the fact that it was also closer for me. The thing is since then ive worked longer in place "B", nearly 4 years than place "A", which was in my contract. The problem is now that there is a chance that i may have to go back to place "A" again.

And this is where things are confusing. I asked ACAS what my legal place of work is and they say it is "B" because i was moved and didn't ask to go and i've been there longest so it right to assume that is my place of work, but my contract still says "A". What also muddies the water is that there would now be a massive financial cost to me if i move locations and also an impact on family life as things have changed at home. Ive also been diagnosed with PTSD and i'm on medication and actually couldn't physically drive 3 hours a day to go back.

The other variable is our company documentation now says, as they've just added it in, that an employee can have up to two permanent places of work. then it explains that a permanent place of work is somewhere you visit or go to more that twice a week, so in theory with my contract and where i work i have two places of work even though my contract is only one? Just looking for clarity on my situation and if the worst comes to the worst what if anything I can do? Thanks in advance

[ULA]

In respect of your location and the conflict between your contractual place of work and where you have actually been working nearly 4 years my thoughts are, firstly you have been doing this as the request of the company, therefore they have altered your contractual location albeit they did not follow this up in writing. Secondly you may also be able to established by custom and practice, your location has changed as your changes of location has been long-standing, uninterrupted, automatically received, expected and well-known by both you and your employer.


The company documentation you refer to, is this part of your contract of employment and therefore considered to be part of the contractual arrangement between you and your employer? If not, have employees been given reasonable notice of this change prior to it being implemented?

[Dani3l]

HI Thank you for your reply.

I didn't make it fully clear in my initial post. I was working at my contracted place but i've now spent four years at a second, the second place is closer to home and suits me better, less travel, financial burden etc. I've heard rumours that i might have to go back to my contractual place rather than the place i am now which i wouldnt or couldnt facilitate. I just want to arm myself with enough knowledge so that if the day comes I can put up a strong enough case. Like i said previously ACAS have told me that regardless of what my contract says my "legal" place of work is where i am currently as this was at the desire of the company (even though it suited me as well)

The documentation I'm referring to is our company procedures and process library, list of company rules, regulations do, don'ts etc. I'm no legal buff but my contract says one place of work place "A" but they have defined a permanent place of work and a temporary place of work in our online documentation, no issue there. but the definition that have given, "if you visit a place more than twice a week" then this is defined as a permanent place of work and " an employee can have up to two permanent places of work" to my mind this goes against what is written in my contract only having one permanent place. What legal standing do i have as having another permanent place of work also effects what they pay me for travel etc

[ULA]

Dani3l I understand that you have a place of work as stated in your initial contract of employment and you have the place of work you have spent nearly the last 4 years working at, as requested by the company. I have already set out in my post #2 my view on that, which partly agrees with what you have been told by ACAS but also provides a further perspective on this, which relates to customer and practice. This point is again something in your favour.

However, you also have a set of company procedures and processes which set out working arrangements between the company and employees. A new addition to this is a definition of a permanent place of work for which you can have up to two of these. How this may affect you is down to the interpretation of "if you visit a place more than twice a week" then this is defined as a permanent place of work and " an employee can have up to two permanent places of work".

So the question is, how many company locations do you visit more than twice a week? If it is only one then that is your permanent place of work, if you do not spend more than twice a week at another location that cannot be a "second" permanent place of work as it does not meet the criteria. If you only work every day in location B, then my view is you only have one permanent location. The fact your contract states location A is potentially negated by what I have previously set out as you have arguments to say that location B has become your permanent location.

My concern it that you are asking us to consider 2 lines within what is probably a longer clause / section of the policy and the complete extract may assist in clarifying how the entirety of it should be interpretated in order to advise you. If you can post this whole section up (anonymised) then it would be helpful.