Four Key Changes an Employer May Need to Make to Employment Contracts in England

As an employer, employment contracts are one of the most critical documents in your business. They are legally binding agreements between you and your employees which set out your responsibilities towards each other in the workplace. Employment contracts can be both oral and in writing, and are often relied upon if an employment claim at an employment tribunal arises, such as for unfair dismissal or constructive dismissal. Therefore, you must draft your employment contracts carefully to reflect the current situation. This article will explain four key changes you, as an employer, may need to make to employment contracts in England. 

1. Changing Work Patterns or Hours

A key piece of information your employment contracts will contain is your employee’s working patterns and hours. For example, your employee may work fixed hours or have variable shift patterns. By clarifying these details in the employment contract, your staff are clear about when you expect them to work. 

However, there may be times when you need to amend these details in the employment contract. For example, you may accept your employee’s request for flexible work hours. 

Although you are legally required to consider a flexible working request, you are not required to accept them. However, if you accept a request, you should ensure their employment contract reflects this change for clarity. Ultimately, you must seek your employee’s consent before changing their work hours. Otherwise, your change might not be legally binding.

2. Responsibility Changes 

Your employees have specific job roles, meaning they will have particular tasks and duties detailed in their employment contracts. This lets your employees know what you expect and helps your business run more effeciently.  

If your employee’s responsibilities change, you should reflect these changes in their employment contract. In addition, you should note that if you request your employee to perform tasks that do not form part of their employment contract, they could raise a grievance with you. If you fail to deal with the grievance effectively, this could lead to an employment tribunal claim.

3. Changes to Pay Details 

The amount you pay your employee for the work they do is a crucial part of the employment relationship. Hence, the employment contract should detail your employee’s:

• rate of pay;
• frequency of pay, such as weekly, fortnightly or monthly; and
• your policy regarding payment for working outside their regular working pattern, such as overtime pay. 

Any changes to pay are key changes that need to be updated in your employment contracts. If you need to change your employees’ wages, ensure it is above the National Minimum Wage (‘NMW’). 

4.  Contractual Rights Changes

Your employees may have contractual rights, which will be detailed in their employment contracts. For example, your employees might have:

• maternity rights;
• paternity pay;
• adoption leave; or
• redundancy rights.

If you need to change these rights during their employment, you must ensure the changes never fall below the legal minimum entitlement. For example, whilst making contractual changes to maternity rights, you cannot change your employee’s maternity leave to less than the permitted 52 weeks. 

Key Takeaways

Your employment contracts with your staff will not always stay the same. After all, your employee’s duties and responsibilities are prone to change over the course of the employment relationship. Some areas which might require change include:

• working patterns and hours;
• responsibility changes;
• changes to pay details; and
• contractual right changes. 

If you need help understanding changing your employment contracts in England, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. So call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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