Labour question

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getafix33

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Hi

Hope this is the correct forum.

My wife has been working for a small Doctor's practise for the past 9 years without an employment contract.

Today on return to work she was told that she will be receiving a work contract stating her new increased working hours without an increase in pay.

My questions are:

1. Is he legally allowed to increase her working hours without increasing her salary?
2. If she signs this new contract and she is retrenched in the future will she receive a payment for the previous 9 years or only from the date of signing the new employment contract.

Regards
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but an employee is permanently employed from day one, if no fixed term contract was signed. So they will have to negotiate this new work schedule with her, and conme to a mutual agreement with her, which involves her negotiating a salary increase for this. They can not just change anything for her to just accept. They can make working there horrible though, which she will have to live with, or resign.

If she get retrenched, the total time of employment must be considered, not just from the start of the new contract.
 
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She technically has a contract even though no official contract has been signed. It will run according to the BCEA very strictly since no deviations were agreed to between employer and employee in writing.

She is under no obligation to accept a new written contract with different conditions if she doesn't want to, and they cannot just fire her either. She needs to negotiate with the doctor and come to a mutually beneficial arrangement.
 
The BCEA and it's basic conditions will apply in the absence of a company contract. Often companies have the "misguided" thought that their own contract can override/substitute basic conditions of employment. The BCEA makes provision for working hours, overtime, leave etc.
 
If employed for longer than a certain period of time ( not sure the length, think it's a year ), you become defacto a permanent employee even without a contract.
 
What happens if they cannot come to an agreement - basically accept the new terms or move on?
 
getafix33 said:
What happens if they cannot come to an agreement - basically accept the new terms or move on?
Click to expand...

Hardly. She can state that she will work as she had before in a letter , hand it to management and keep a copy. If they discipline her for it, she can then take it to CCMA. Until then, she won't be able to as far as I understand, you have to follow at least some rudimentary grievance/disciplinary procedure.

Obviously she can also negotiate the issue.
 
Kosmik said:
Hardly. She can state that she will work as she had before in a letter , hand it to management and keep a copy. If they discipline her for it, she can then take it to CCMA. Until then, she won't be able to as far as I understand, you have to follow at least some rudimentary grievance/disciplinary procedure.

Obviously she can also negotiate the issue.
Click to expand...

This ^^ but in any event it will either be business as usual, or they will make life hard for that employee.
 
getafix33 said:
What happens if they cannot come to an agreement - basically accept the new terms or move on?
Click to expand...
The employer would have to pay her 9 weeks retrenchment pay, plus 1 month notice and payment for any leave owing. It is illegal to take leave in lieu of notice.

Randy_The_Squirrel said:
This ^^ but in any event it will either be business as usual, or they will make life hard for that employee.
Click to expand...
Which will open them up to further legal action.
 
She's certainly under no obligation to accept increased hours for the same pay, and the employer is on very shaky ground even trying to retrench an employee who refuses to accept such a change.
 
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