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View Full Version : Is it legal to cut working hours from full time to part time


drewand
Sep 10, 2012, 09:23 AM
My company that I have worked for for nearly 20 years has been changing peoples hours with out notice by making them re-apply for other hours that are all part time 20hours or less . So if you had a job with 38 hours they would be no longer and you would have to apply for two 20 hour jobs with no guaranteeing you would be given them at all .is this legal or is saying that there is no full time hours termination of contract . If so am I entitled to redundancy .

AK lawyer
Sep 10, 2012, 09:31 AM
...is saying that there is no full time hours termination of contract ...

Do you have a written contract? If not, there is not a law which prohibits your employer from reducing your hours or, indeed, letting you go entirely.

If, however, what you are suggesting is that they are trying to do away with overtime pay (if the law in your jurisdiction requires you to be paid a premium if you work more than 40 hours in a week), they cannot get away with a fiction that you are working two jobs for them. No, it doesn't work that way.

smoothy
Sep 10, 2012, 09:32 AM
Sure its legal... they could also have just gone in and fired or laid off half the people too.

Be glad you still have a job at all at this point.

I'm assuming you aren't a union worker working under a contract.

You really aren't entitled to anything... but you might be able to collect partial unemployment if qualified under your states requirements if you are forced to go from full time to only 20 hours max a week.

In the short term... do what you can to keep the paycheck... and start looking for another full time job if you can find one.

drewand
Sep 10, 2012, 11:16 AM
Do you have a written contract? If not, there is not a law which prohibits your employer from reducing your hours or, indeed, letting you go entirely.

If, however, what you are suggesting is that they are trying to do away with overtime pay (if the law in your jurisdiction requires you to be paid a premium if you work more than 40 hours in a week), they cannot get away with a fiction that you are working two jobs for them. No, it doesn't work that way.

I have an hourly 38 hour a week written contact but on other departments within the company they have just told them that they had to re-apply for there hours an some long standing full time people have been told their hours don't exist anymore. I have already lost overtime payments and have a dwindeling supplement which amounts to a pay cut each year. If they say my 38 hour contract does not exist any more is that a termination of contract.

smoothy
Sep 10, 2012, 11:53 AM
I have an hourly 38 hour a week writen contact but on other departments within the company they have just told them that they had to re-apply for there hours an some long standing full time people have been told their hours don't exist anymore. I have already lost overtime payments and have a dwindeling supplement which amounts to a pay cut each year. If they say my 38 hour contract does not exist any more is that a termination of contract.

What kind of contract is it exactly.. after 20 years still a contract? What did your lawyer have to say about how ironclad it really is? THese sorts of things are usually drafted by Lawyers.

What you are calling a contract might not actually be a contract... from a legal definition.

Fr_Chuck
Sep 10, 2012, 06:59 PM
First where is this at, labor laws differ by country, in some employment contracts are more "suggestions" in other countries like US, they are enforceable.

drewand
Sep 10, 2012, 08:46 PM
In the U.K.