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If the employer wishes to vary the terms
and conditions of employment and the
employee, having been consulted, objects to
the variation, then the employer may decide
to terminate the contract by dismissing the
employee. As usual in the event of
dismissal, the appropriate statutory or
contractual notice (or pay in lieu of
notice) would have to be given and any other
contractual obligations relating to the
termination of employment would have to be
fulfilled. The employer would then be free
to offer the job on different terms and
conditions either to the dismissed employee
or to another applicant.
If the dismissed employee considered the
employer's actions to have been unfair, he
or she would be entitled to make a complaint
of unfair dismissal to an employment
tribunal - provided that he or she had
completed a qualifying period of at least
one years' continuous service. This applies
to dismissals taking place on or after 1
June 1999: previously two years' continuous
service was necessary.
Such complaints must normally be made
within three months of the date the
employment ended. The tribunal would
consider all the circumstances of the case
in deciding whether or not the dismissal was
in fact unfair. These would include the
employer's reasons for wishing to vary the
terms and conditions - overriding business
considerations, for example, might make the
dismissal fair - and the employee's reasons
for opposing the variation.
If an employer attempts simply to impose
a variation of contract on an employee
without the employee's agreement, this will
be a breach of contract. The employee may
have various means of redress available in
law. These are described in the following
sections of this document.
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The Interactive
Law Group