How can I best deal with a sudden contract change from my boss?

Questioner

I have been working in a restaurant for 3.5 years, now in October I signed a full-time contract with more hours and hourly wage. The month before I also got the salary increase without contractual coverage. In November I noticed that I would not be able to reach my hours and indicated that I could not really work earlier for 2 days. And if it could then be a contract with fewer hours (now there are 164.66 hours). They did not do anything with this and it was already known that I would stop working as of January 1st due to moving. Now they suddenly want to change my contract retroactively to on-call from November 2 weeks before I stop (I haven't signed anything yet). Which in my opinion shouldn't be possible since I can't do anything about not getting my hours due to the measures taken by the government and it was known in advance that I wouldn't be able to work earlier due to study and travel to work. In addition, I also happened to be sick for 2 weeks in these two months (1 week due to a work accident in November and a week in December because a colleague was sick at work and wasn't sent home and I (probably) got infected by this). If I sign this contract, it means that I will only be paid for 4.5 hours per day and I won't be paid the week that I was sick either. What is the best thing for me to do?

Lawyer

An employment contract can never be changed 'simply'. Most mandatory rules on employment contracts cannot be deviated from by law (for example, continued payment in case of illness). It is not possible to convert a full-time contract to an on-call contract retroactively. For termination/change of a permanent contract, terms apply and the employee must agree, or the employer must go to court. In addition, there are simply legal rules if you cannot work the number of contract hours, for example. Has your agreement already been officially terminated before January 1st? I always advise people never to sign anything that you do not support. Especially in the case of employment matters, as there are many legal rules. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or require legal assistance.