ASK HR: our employer has no right to force you to sign that contract

The organisation I work for is revising employee contracts without due consideration; is it legal to change an employee’s contract mid-way? PHOTO| FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The employees declared redundant will be paid their final dues and leave the company amicably.
  • That said, if the employer insists on revising the terms midway through the contract, you have an option to escalate the issue to the Ministry of Labour, who will give you redress.
  • However, the employer has no right to force you to sign a contract.

Q. The organisation I work for is revising employee contracts without due consideration; is it legal to change an employee’s contract mid-way? Also, can one be forced to sign the said contract or should the matter first be discussed between the employer and the employee? If the terms are to be changed, does one get to be paid for the services rendered?

 

The current difficult economic situation has forced many organisations to review their fixed costs to cushion the bottomline, since revenues continue to dwindle. Reorganisation has therefore become prevalent.

During the recruitment process, the employee is given a contract of employment that is legally binding. When the contract has a specific lapse period, then the terms can be varied upon renewal. The employee is however entitled to be paid all the applicable dues as stipulated in the contract. The employer can review the terms or the employee can negotiate for better terms. In this case, both parties agree to the revised terms when they sign the renewed contract. However, when the contract is permanent in nature, then the terms are binding, hence it is illegal to change them mid-way.

Most contracts stipulate that the employee can be deployed to a different role should the need arise, therefore, your employer has an option of assigning you more responsibilities or combining roles instead of revising your terms downwards. In the long-term, the organisation can also consider reviewing the structures to make them flater and leaner. Review of the structure also means that some positions will be merged and others declared redundant, hence reducing the headcount and consequently the employment cost.

The employees declared redundant will be paid their final dues and leave the company amicably. That said, if the employer insists on revising the terms midway through the contract, you have an option to escalate the issue to the Ministry of Labour, who will give you redress. However, the employer has no right to force you to sign a contract.

My advice would be that you accept the contract with the reduced terms as you scout for a position elsewhere, otherwise if you decline to sign it, you will have rendered yourself jobless, which is a worse off situation.