Harmonisation of contracts :- advice please

[timwilky]

My boss has phoned me. The part of the company I work in has representation in about 61 countries and about 1000 employees. HR has decided to start harmonisation of gradings, contracts, T&Cs etc. across the globe

The implication for me is that apparently I am the only person on my grading that has an entitlement to a company car. So it looks like they want me to loose that rather than give everyone an entitlement.

Chatting with him. He says they would need to buy me out. He has suggested not to make it a one off payment as and when the approach is made. But to require it on salary. After all it will cost me annually to fund what I have lost.

Plus if added as a salary upgrade, it would be pensionable.

Can my employers remove contractual entitlements as part of "harmonisation" projects. or do they as my boss suggest have to negotiate with the individual to remove individual historical benefits?

[maviczap]

That payment would also be taxable wouldn't it :confused:

[timwilky]

Yeaah, but so is the car in the first place.

[gruntygiggles]

My boss has phoned me. The part of the company I work in has representation in about 61 countries and about 1000 employees. HR has decided to start harmonisation of gradings, contracts, T&Cs etc. across the globe

The implication for me is that apparently I am the only person on my grading that has an entitlement to a company car. So it looks like they want me to loose that rather than give everyone an entitlement.

Chatting with him. He says they would need to buy me out. He has suggested not to make it a one off payment as and when the approach is made. But to require it on salary. After all it will cost me annually to fund what I have lost.

Plus if added as a salary upgrade, it would be pensionable.

Can my employers remove contractual entitlements as part of "harmonisation" projects. or do they as my boss suggest have to negotiate with the individual to remove individual historical benefits?


They can't make any changes to your contract without your consent or approval and your signature. However, you cannot unresaonably block any changes either.

Have a think about it and speak to a financial advisor, even one in your bank as it's free. Weigh up the pros and cons and the tax implications and also all the additional costs. You need any payment to cover your maintenance and running costs as currently covered with the company car.

[EssexDave]

I'm not sure if this exactly applies to your situation, however:

There is such a thing as legitimate expectation which applies to implied conditions.

Things that have been going on so long, that it is essentially implied in your contract.

This means that they would have to get you to agree to take it away. Obviously they are trying to give you terms that are agreeable to you both, in that they will pay you for the loss of the company car by "buying you out".

The example that was given to me is, if you are given a bonus year on year for 6 years, and then 7th year they stop, you can argue that you had a legitimate expectation of said bonus and was implied in your contract by their previous behaviour.

I think this is more useful to you as a bargaining tool should their offers fall short of yoru expectations?

Hope this helped!

[gruntygiggles]

I'm not sure if this exactly applies to your situation, however:

There is such a thing as legitimate expectation which applies to implied conditions.

Things that have been going on so long, that it is essentially implied in your contract.

This means that they would have to get you to agree to take it away. Obviously they are trying to give you terms that are agreeable to you both, in that they will pay you for the loss of the company car by "buying you out".

The example that was given to me is, if you are given a bonus year on year for 6 years, and then 7th year they stop, you can argue that you had a legitimate expectation of said bonus and was implied in your contract by their previous behaviour.

I think this is more useful to you as a bargaining tool should their offers fall short of yoru expectations?

Hope this helped!

Implied conditions in a contract are something we should all be aware of as most employees and employers do not condsider them when making changes. However, if the company car is in Tims contract, it's not implied, therefore any change has to be agreed without the need to prove any implied terms.

[EssexDave]

Implied conditions in a contract are something we should all be aware of as most employees and employers do not condsider them when making changes. However, if the company car is in Tims contract, it's not implied, therefore any change has to be agreed without the need to prove any implied terms.


Sorry if I didn't make it clear, my point is, that something not written in your contract, which is implied by it, has to be agreed with you to be changed.

Because of that, you would expect you to have to agree to any change of the actual contract.

[gruntygiggles]

Sorry if I didn't make it clear, my point is, that something not written in your contract, which is implied by it, has to be agreed with you to be changed.

Because of that, you would expect you to have to agree to any change of the actual contract.

Yeah I know...I agree with you hence saying it's good for everyone to know about this. But I don't see that it's relevant in this case that's all as it sounds like it is in the contract, not implied, so Tim doesn't need to worry about it.

Then again, I have four windows open and doing lots of different things, so maybe didn't read the OP properly :-)

[Luckypants]

As above Tim, they have to get your agreement to implement immediately. HOWEVER if you and they fail to agree on the changes, they can impose their offer on you by giving (I think) 3 months notice. I have had a similar thing in the past with a previous employer over bonus payments, they were happy with it until we were achieving 95-100% payout every quarter then they wanted to change the criteria to something else - which obviously we could not achieve! We failed to agree a compromise so it was imposed after due notice.

[gruntygiggles]

As above Tim, they have to get your agreement to implement immediately. HOWEVER if you and they fail to agree on the changes, they can impose their offer on you by giving (I think) 3 months notice. I have had a similar thing in the past with a previous employer over bonus payments, they were happy with it until we were achieving 95-100% payout every quarter then they wanted to change the criteria to something else - which obviously we could not achieve! We failed to agree a compromise so it was imposed after due notice.

Yes, they can do this, but if they are doing it on such a large scale, they will do what they can to make it easier on everyone. Fingers crossed for Tim he gets the outcome he wants.

It sucks that you had the change imposed Mike...had it done to me once so fought it and won...then left the company anyway because they were so bitter. I was young and learned a lesson...after that I just tried to find a compromise :rolleyes:

[Bri w]

Sounds like some good advice Tim. Don't forget to get an agreement on ongoing travel costs, post contract change. However, if the intention is for global harmonisation ask for music lessons too.

sorry, I just couldn't stop myself

[Biker Biggles]

Sounds like potential for a result.Get rid of the boring Eurobanger and replace it with a big f*** off bike and expenses to run it.

[ceeshaw]

Tim, this may not be a bad thing... work out a number that you would be happy to accept in lieu of a company car, then add 20% to that. Tell the Boss that to be in the SAME position you need an extra £xxx per month. He'll mumble about taking it away to HR and will make you think it's too high (if he's any good at negotiating)... let him.

He'll come back with a different number probably. Hopefully that number will be within your 20% margin - if so you win. If not, offer the number without the extra 20% saying you're committed to doing your part to help the company *blah-blah-blah*, but that you can't afford to earn 'less'.

Unfortunately, it's just you vs HR, so no leverage from any sort of collective bargaining. But one car allowance out of 1,000 employees is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Potential problem could be when they harmonise salary bands, and your new salary is deemed too high!! But cross that bridge later...

Good luck!