Help....Employment Rights

[MiniN]

The company I work for is merging with another company...I am being offered another job which I do not want to take....I would prefer to leave both companies and make a fresh start.

Am I obligated to sign the contract and take this new job? would I be able to leave my existing job without fulfilling my notice period?

I really need your advice...I've just been signed off with stress because I feel I'm being pressurised by my boss to take this new position.

TIA x

[terambulan]

Because your employer has 'moved the goal-post' doesn't mean you have to comply. If a new contract is unsuitable resign. You should get any holiday monies owing and wages up to date.

[Postdog]

Of course you don't have to take it.

Try having a word with your boss first about any options, and if there are none, then go. They are effectively ending your existing contract, and as such, any obligations by you notice wise no longer exist.

If you DO take the job on offer, then be aware that (a) if you are no good, they can get rid easier and (b) by signing the new contract you will be bound by the new terms, so if it makes you really unhappy doing it, you are stuck for a while.

New job might not be so bad tho - change is always frightening, and better the devil you know.

[voltr4m4x]

Be very careful before signing any new contract since you might be "jumping out of the frying pan into the fire", as the saying goes. Also, be sure of your rights...much depends on how long you have worked for your present employer insofar as payment of compensation is concerned. If you are "dismissed" as a result of the merger of your employer's company you will have the right of appeal to an industrial tribunal since this course of action would involve only yourself and no-ene else at the company. In other words, it would be foolhardy of your employer to "dismiss" every employee on his/her books since every one could conceivably appeal to a tribunal independently thus involving the employer in whosesale financial risk. On the other hand, your employer may decide on a policy of "redundancy", a protracted procedure which involves the position you currently hold at the firm and not merely you as an individual, so any number of other employees are also at risk of losing their jobs, and in this instance, your Trade Union should be consulted at an early stage.

If you are unhappy with your current situation at work, and you are wanting to leave of your own accord, then there is simply nothing you can do with regard to appeal or pursuing compensation, unless of course your state of unhappiness is as a result of some discrimination or harrassment towards you by your employer.

I have attempted to explain this highly complex issue on employment law as simply as possible, so I hope I have at least been helpful to some degree. But...don't act in haste or too rashly, you would do well to seek professional advice on a face-to-face encounter with a Solicitor.

Best wishes.

[MiniN]

thanks for your advice guys....its a really complicated situation....

I was hired by my boss to do marketing but my job changed coz another member of staff so have been stuck doing account manager role...new job with company is a project manager role but they have said i will get to do marketing and pr when its possible....to me this is unacceptable coz i need to get a job that the core role is marketing.

i've tried explaining all this to my boss but he doesnt really care, he only wants me to go coz it will look bad on him if i dont take the new job and there will be no-one to manage our existing clients.

i want to leave....but i'm aware i have to go about it in a clever way otherwise my boss will stitch me up somehow....(he's done it before to employees - he's a nasty piece of work)

[Postdog]

"nasty peice of work"

Definitely go then - if you don't get stitched up now sounds like you might somewhere down the line.

[thugulike]

Don't forget that you'll need a reference. In theory you can do anything as they would be unlikely to sue you for breach of contract. But the reference may be important to your search for a new job.