changes in work terms and conditions

Hi
I started in a job 4 years ago. When I started the manager agreed that I could take a shorter lunch break so that I could leave earlier. Somebody else recently asked for a shorter lunch break and we were all told that we cannot take shorter lunch breaks to facilitate leaving earlier. When I joined the company it was in the process of being taken over but I was never warned that my original arrangement would be invalid. Does anyone know about employee rights in this area? Do you have to take a full hour off at lunchtime? I'd be very grateful for any advice. thanks

You have certain statutory rights in this area - e.g.:

CitizensInformation - Hours/Breaks/Sunday Working
DETE Employment Rights Section

You may also have rights under your written and/or verbal contract or based on existing procedures. In a takeover situation applies.

thanks very much for the links, that helped a lot,

Hi
I have another question which I cannot seem to get an answer to on the sites listed above. my contract may state (will double check when I find it) that the lunch period is an hour in length. However when I was offered the job I made it clear to the manager (of the time) that I could not make up the correct hours every day unless I was allowed to take a 1/2 hour lunch and he agreed to that. If he hadn't agreed I couldn't have taken the position as I had to collect my child from the creche. However there is now some suggestion that this verbal agreement may be worthless. Does a verbal agreement overide the standard written contract? thanks

mir2001 said:

my contract may state (will double check when I find it) that the lunch period is an hour in length. However when I was offered the job I made it clear to the manager (of the time) that I could not make up the correct hours every day unless I was allowed to take a 1/2 hour lunch and he agreed to that. If he hadn't agreed I couldn't have taken the position as I had to collect my child from the creche.

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Why was contract not altered to state your requirement ??? , strange to make such a statement, and not get it documented in contract , or accompanying letter.

mir2001 said:

However there is now some suggestion that this verbal agreement may be worthless. Does a verbal agreement overide the standard written contract? thanks

Click to expand...

Verbal overide written , you jest .. if your company revert to initial contract statement, you will have a difficult time changing this, you signed contract with hour lunchbreak.

Well it may sound naive but in the past I have found that employers lived up to any specific promises made (even verbal). Furthermore I work in a technical job. It would seem rather foolish for them to agree to terms and then risk a resignation on failing to keep to those terms. It would take at least 6 months for a replacement to become familiar with the product. Also, the contract was a generic one issued by a parent company so I presumed there wasn't a lot they could do with it. On the other hand, crummydub, I get the impression your imput here is an attempt to show off your "brilliant" critical analysis skills rather than contribute anything positive.

Sorry you took offence.

You seem to be irreplacable , so why would they alter your working conditions ???

And you are determined to misunderstand - I didnt say irreplaceable - I just pointed out that it takes a good period of time before any new member of the team becomes as productive as an existing member. This is a knowledge based position - I'm not talking about reading a manual.

I take it that you continue with your arrangement, if so keep the head down.

If both parties agree to alter the conditions it doesn't necessarily have to be written down.

Ask employer to write accompanying letter to your contract stating the anomaly you need. This is quite a common practice in large multinationals.