Part-time vs Job-share

[saxy_jag]

My office supervisor and I have both, until recently, worked in job-share positions. In recent months, our respective job-share partners have left. Her job-share partner is about to be replaced but, although we've not been officially notified, mine won't be.

My supervisor noticed that when the post for her 'new' partner was advertised, it was advertised as two hours short of the required number to make up the full-time post. When she spoke to HR, they told her it was because the jobs were now two part-time posts rather than a full-time job-share, although the extra two-hours are negotiable and won't be a problem to alter. This got me wondering as to what they're going to do with my post if indeed they aren' t going to replace my partner.

My supervisor thinks we'll lose out in terms of overtime, because before, if we did extra hours then it took the whole post over the alloted 37 hours and we'd get time-and-a-half. If we're now filling a part-time post, then the overtime rate goes down to time only and only increases if, collectively, we do more than 37 hours.

So my question is (well, two questions, really), a) should we have been officially notified that this change in job status will take place, and b) does it affect any rights we have?

I should add that this is a city council, and part-timers have the same holiday and pension rights etc. as full-time workers, but we're both a little miffed that the council seems to be making these changes without either notifying or consulting us. There's also the fact that the workload remains the same even though we have fewer staff, although I know this is happening all over these days.