Implied Contract Terms

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cl55 amg

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After some advice please guys. I currently work in an industry where 24 hour support is provided by me/my team, I have been doing this 24 hour support for 10 years plus however we have now been told that this cover will be moving to another team.
So where do I stand regarding implied terms of contract? will I be entitled to compensation? if so how does this work.
 
I guess it would depend somewhat on the renumeration you receive at the moment.

If you receive out of hours payments for being on call, actually being called out, etc, then this compensates for the potential / actual disruption. When that disruption stops, the compensation would stop too.

However, if the requirement is baked into the contract, and the salary reflects that, then I would think that consultation, etc, would come into play.

What does your contract say about working out of hours, payment made for that, etc? If it says nothing, then you might be covered by implied terms after such a period of time. However, if it is mentioned in there, then it's probably a bit stickier...

Is the other team part of the same company, a different supplier, offshore, etc? That all may come into play too.
 
I guess it would depend somewhat on the renumeration you receive at the moment.

If you receive out of hours payments for being on call, actually being called out, etc, then this compensates for the potential / actual disruption. When that disruption stops, the compensation would stop too.

However, if the requirement is baked into the contract, and the salary reflects that, then I would think that consultation, etc, would come into play.

What does your contract say about working out of hours, payment made for that, etc? If it says nothing, then you might be covered by implied terms after such a period of time. However, if it is mentioned in there, then it's probably a bit stickier...

Is the other team part of the same company, a different supplier, offshore, etc? That all may come into play too.

Currently I am on a rota where I recieve £300 for being on call for the week and then extra payment for being called out/site visits.
There is no mention of this in my contract as it was not part of the job when i started, this came in 2 years later i.e 10 years ago.

Yes the other team is part of the same company, we were originally all the same team which was split into two. We all currently are part of the rota, but they now want my team to drop out of the call out part of the job.
 
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Sounds like a reorgansiation to me, and that would fall within normal statutory consultations etc. I would argue that after 10 years, whether your contract explicitly said so or not, you were working on an agreed set of terms and conditions (agreed by performance - custom and practise - both by you and your employer), and therefore this represents an attempt -perhaps unwittingly - at a unilateral variation of contract. If you want to check out your ground first, have a quiet word with an employment lawyer (forewarned is forearmed etc) but for a longstanding employer I personally wouldn't go in all legal guns blazing, but would rather have a word with line management and/or HR, along the lines of 'are you sure we can do this without a consultation, woudln;t want the company to be wrongfooted here etc.'
 
Have they given any indication as to why that team was chosen and yours not?
If they just need less cover, then the fairest option would be to spread the call-out cover more thinly across both teams - perhaps alternate week by week etc?
would agree that best way to start is with a discussion regarding consultation about changes.

Good Luck!
 
good advice from PXW I feel.

Tread carefully but also lookup unlawful deduction of earnings. Its complicated but unless agreement is sought and you are worse off finantially then it is a possible avenue.
 
Sounds like a reorgansiation to me, and that would fall within normal statutory consultations etc. I would argue that after 10 years, whether your contract explicitly said so or not, you were working on an agreed set of terms and conditions (agreed by performance - custom and practise - both by you and your employer), and therefore this represents an attempt -perhaps unwittingly - at a unilateral variation of contract. If you want to check out your ground first, have a quiet word with an employment lawyer (forewarned is forearmed etc) but for a longstanding employer I personally wouldn't go in all legal guns blazing, but would rather have a word with line management and/or HR, along the lines of 'are you sure we can do this without a consultation, woudln;t want the company to be wrongfooted here etc.'


your correct I dont want to go shouting about it and causing issues, as I do enjoy my Job but a loss of £2-£3K per year is not nice to take. Your correct it was a reorganisation which was done 2 years ago, but we have kept the same rota/staff (across the two departments) for the 2 years since.
I can understand from a business point of view why they want to do this as it does make sence however I would like to know my rights.


good advice from PXW I feel.

Tread carefully but also lookup unlawful deduction of earnings. Its complicated but unless agreement is sought and you are worse off finantially then it is a possible avenue.

Thank you for the info.
 
It depends on how your employers class these "out of contract" payments. Some see it as contractual others as conditional. If its contractual you should be entitled to loss of earnings compensation. One of the easiest ways to find out is if you have an occupational pension and these payments have been treated as pensionable then I believe they are contractual earnings (unless of course they moved the goalposts again)
 
From the employer's perspective the process should be (assuming that the extra hours is now "implied"):

1. Consult with employees - why the change is necessary, etc.

2. Gain agreement with employees

3. If there is no agreement, then terminate the existing contract and offer a new contract encompassing the change.

However, step 3 would count as dismissal and so the employer would need to make sure that the correct process is followed to ensure that it cannot be seen as "unfair". Things like corporate reorganisation come under "substantial reason" for dismissal.

Unfortunately employee rights come down to following a process or not.
 
It depends on how your employers class these "out of contract" payments. Some see it as contractual others as conditional. If its contractual you should be entitled to loss of earnings compensation. One of the easiest ways to find out is if you have an occupational pension and these payments have been treated as pensionable then I believe they are contractual earnings (unless of course they moved the goalposts again)

Is it as straightforward as that? We have guys who get overtime, out-of-hours, etc, and they are treated as earnings from a pension perspective. However, once over a certain grade you lose entitlement to overtime - hence why we have a bit of a log-jam at the break point because the promotion increase would be less than some guys earn in overtime, etc.
 
Is it as straightforward as that? We have guys who get overtime, out-of-hours, etc, and they are treated as earnings from a pension perspective. However, once over a certain grade you lose entitlement to overtime - hence why we have a bit of a log-jam at the break point because the promotion increase would be less than some guys earn in overtime, etc.


It depends on the T & C's of the pension scheme but usually, in my limited experience, the Govt or ex-Govt (Water, Gas etc) have this stipulation but it's best to check all individual ones. I believe the system was/is in place to stop top-loading of earnings in a final salary year.

So basically if you pension states that contributions are only made on contractual earnings then anything that is pensionable is contractual, but as I say it's best to check the fine print in your own. I don't think it would be unreasonable for a number of firms to be unaware of this hence the deduction on all earnings.

It was quite a few years ago I was involved and newer schemes may well be different but it's worth checking
 
I would look at what the express terms say before worrying about implied terms. What does your contract actually have to say on the matter?
 
I would look at what the express terms say before worrying about implied terms. What does your contract actually have to say on the matter?

its not in my contract as the 24 hour cover started after i started with the company.
 
It depends on the T & C's of the pension scheme but usually, in my limited experience, the Govt or ex-Govt (Water, Gas etc) have this stipulation but it's best to check all individual ones. I believe the system was/is in place to stop top-loading of earnings in a final salary year.

So basically if you pension states that contributions are only made on contractual earnings then anything that is pensionable is contractual, but as I say it's best to check the fine print in your own. I don't think it would be unreasonable for a number of firms to be unaware of this hence the deduction on all earnings.

It was quite a few years ago I was involved and newer schemes may well be different but it's worth checking

My pension contributions do not increase each month depending on overtime etc, so I presume my contributions are only made on contractual earnings?
 
My pension contributions do not increase each month depending on overtime etc, so I presume my contributions are only made on contractual earnings?

What about the £300 standby money? Just calculate your contributions by finding out the % you pay for your pension X your basic salary
 
I think you have no chance of recompense as you knew this was a non contractual rota and overtime payment and that the new situation as set out 2 years ago meant the cover required by your team would finish in due course.
 

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