Advice required please?

[kat2206]

Good Morning

A few weeks back I posted a question on here and I have taken the liberty of copying the body of the text below but now things have escalated at work that the boss has decided to lower our salaries considerably without any negotiations nor meetings, this has been done purely through email. We havent received a new contract stating the lower salary and the the boss is thinking of implimenting this immediately. Can he do this? I was subjected to incredibly absuive emails from him yesterday when I questioned him about a customer. As pointed out in the body of the previous text below, I havent been employed by the company for more than a year however surely there is something that I can do, surely theres a legal "loophole" that what he is doing is completely wrong?

Body of text from previous questions -

" Myself and my colleague are both sales reps for the same company, to carry out our job we need a car, mobile and laptop (to be able to work from home/do quotes etc).

Our boss is a law unto himself and took our laptops away 4 weeks ago to have necessary software installed on them, he emailed us on Friday night and again on Sunday to advise that if we dont start to bring in more orders by the end of July then staff cut backs would be made swiftly. However, we cant carry out our jobs without having the laptops in place to be able to do these said quotes to then convert them into orders.

[buildersmate]

"I havent been employed by the company for more than a year".
First of all, please could you explain this; are you on some sort of commission-only contract, as and when the company requests you to work?

[kat2206]

Hi, no I am employed full time permanent sales rep but there are no employee "rights" until you have worked for a company for at least a year...

[buildersmate]

Oh I see what you mean now - I read it the wrong way.
Very little you can do. Most employment protection rights don't kick in until 12 months continuous service has occurred. The main exception is for 'automatically unfair reasons' for dismissal - these are listed here, so you can go through them and see if any of them could possible to stretched to apply to you.
http://www.businessli...793717&type=RESOURCES
Regarding changing your salary, this is a change in your contract so the empl,oyer has to give you notice. For you, the period of notice required in writing will be one week, unless longer because it says so in documentation (job offer letter?) you've received.

[Buenchico]

Buildersmate's post seems to be rather misleading. It's only the statutory right to claim for 'unfair dismissal' which (with certain limited exceptions) doesn't commence until after the first 12 months of employment. Contractual rights come into effect from 'day one'. This quote, from the DirectGov website, is relevant:
"Either you or your employer might want to change your employment contract. However, neither you or your employer can change your employment contract without each other's agreement. Changes should normally be made after negotiation and agreement"
Source:
http://www.direct.gov...onditions/DG_10028079

Chris

[buildersmate]

Alright Chris, what you say is technically true.
But in contract law the employer has only to give the contract's notice of a change. And in employment legislation, one has very little protection from unfair dismissal until one has worked there for 12 months, as I know you know.
So the OP can't do anything under a breach of contract if required notice has been given, and she can't do anything with the ET folks either under the employment legislation.

[ABerrant]

...however, the contractual rights in this situation are weak because the employer can change the terms of the contract by effectively sacking (giving notice) and offering re-employment under the new contract, with no recourse for unfair dismissal - essentially the procedure outlined by buildersmate.

[ABerrant]

D'oh!

[buildersmate]

I see that we both speak with the same (non-forked) tongue.

[Vagrant]

I used to work for a company that was taken over by another, very odd, company - from Texas. The Texans I encountered between the takeover and when I left are the most objectionable and despicable human beings I have ever encountered. One thing I learned from this living nightmare is that employers in the UK can do almost anything they want - with very little retribution.
I personally heard a Texan say to a board member " I want a, b and c sacked - out the door within the hour" when the board member protested that this was illegal, the Texan's response was "I don't give a damn about your laws - sack them, or I'll fire you and personally throw you out of the building"!
Within 6 months, they had over 100 court cases for unfair dismissal.
Problem is, the courts can only treat each case individually - the fact that a company has maltreated 100 people rather than 1 does not count.
If you are maltreated in this way, all you can do is to take legal action (much easier if you belong to a Trade Union).
The best you can get from this is what you would have got if they had followed all legitimate procedures and legally made you redundant in the first place.
My advice to you is to get out and find another job ASAP.