Change employment contract? Get free advice!

Questioner

Hello, I have been working in childcare for 9 months now. I have a one-year contract of 26 hours, now my one-year contract has been extended and I received a new contract on December 31st but I have not signed it yet, so it has been silently extended. Now after working for 3 weeks my boss wants to change my contract from 26 hours to 22 hours. Is this allowed?

Lawyer

Dear questioner, You are not allowed to simply change your working hours. The steps your boss must take before unilaterally changing your working hours depend on whether there is a 'unilateral change clause' in your employment contract. If this is the case, the employer may change the employment conditions if he can demonstrate that he has a compelling interest in the change, such that your interest must yield. If there is no unilateral amendment clause in the employment contract, you must respond positively to reasonable proposals from the employer that relate to changed circumstances at work and you may only reject such a proposal if you cannot reasonably be expected to accept it. The Supreme Court has ruled that in order to assess whether the employer is making a 'reasonable proposal', a number of elements must be taken into account, including: -the nature of the changed circumstances that gave rise to the proposal; -the nature and significance of the proposal; - the position of the employee concerned to whom the proposal is made and his interest in the employment conditions remaining unchanged. It is not always easy to determine whether the above conditions have been met. Moreover, I do not know what the new contract states about the number of working hours and how many hours you have worked in the past three weeks. I therefore recommend that you consult a lawyer specialized in employment law to assess your situation. I hope this answers your question. lawyer

Lawyer

That depends. For determining your rights and obligations, it is important - among other things - what is stated in your agreement/regulations/collective labor agreement about changing a function/conditions etc. Some general explanation: the general principle is that an employer may not change employment conditions/a function without the employee's prior consent. There are, however, exceptions: 1. If a unilateral amendment clause has been agreed, the employer does not need the employee's prior consent to amend the employment conditions. At least: •The amendment clause must be agreed in writing. The clause can be included in the employment contract, the collective labour agreement or a personnel guide that has been declared applicable. •The employer must have a weighty interest in the change, for example to avert possible bankruptcy or layoffs. And this employer's interest must outweigh the employee's interest, so that the employee's interest must yield. 2. However, if no unilateral amendment clause has been laid down, there are still options for the employer. Case law shows that there are strict conditions: •There must be changed circumstances which provide sufficient reason to make a proposal to change the conditions; •The proposal must be reasonable, taking into account all the circumstances of the case. •The employee can reasonably be expected to accept the proposal. Whether the change is reasonable depends on, among other things: • The nature of the changed circumstances. A judge will more quickly consider a proposal reasonable if the employer can demonstrate that the company is experiencing serious business economic problems. An example is offering a lower position to prevent the employee from being dismissed. •The nature and significance of the change. For example, changing the function may be considerably more significant than abolishing a bonus. •The employer's interest. Major financial problems may constitute a legitimate interest, but increasing profits may not. •The employee's interest in not changing. In the case of a transfer, for example, a factor may be that the employee cannot travel far due to personal circumstances. • Is a reasonable phasing-out arrangement possible? Also check whether a collective labor agreement applies, or whether a possible works council must be consulted. And is the change collective or individual? For further advice/assistance, you can contact one of the employment lawyers here directly without obligation, e.g. via the 'direct contact' link that you will see with this answer if you are logged in.