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View Full Version : Changing an employees job responsibilities - how much is considered "fair"



Pez
02-07-2012, 08:54 PM
Hi All,

I am looking for advice on the following scenario.

If someone is being moved from their existing role (at the request of a third party client), can they be moved into a role which is significantly different from the role they are currently doing? If so, is there a limit to which their role change be changed, i.e no more than a 50% of change of existing duties?

I am working through an issue in which a client has requested one employee be replaced on a project with a new employee due to "differences". There, to this point, have been no issues with performance raised. If we are to accommodate the client's request, there is no suitable, similar role for the employee to be moved to. Can this employee be forced to accept a "different" role with different responsibilities, and at a different location, as there are currently no other suitable/similar positions available for them?

This employee's role is not being made redundant as the work still needs to be done by someone. So if we try and 'redeploy' him to another role, can he refuse if he doesn't like what is on offer?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Pez

Greg Schmidt
11-07-2012, 02:16 PM
Hi Pez,

this is something of a grey area so while I can suggest some issues for consideration I'm not saying that you can take this as gospel.

As a general principle, employers have the right to direct employees to undertake work that is lawful and appropriate to their skills, qualifications, experience and pay classification. This is subject to the "reasonableness" test, so before requesting/directing an employee to undertake a different role you should consider whether there will be any detriment to the employee, such as:

is it a demotion, or a perceived demotion?;
if a demotion, will the employee actually suffer a drop in pay, or will the company maintain the old salary rate?;
will the new location cause any difficulties for the employee (extra travel time, lack of public transport, etc);
will the new hours cause any difficulties (disruption to child-care arrangements, etc)
If you go through a Change Management/Consultation process with the employee, any of these issues can be identified and hopefully resolved. There's really no limit to the amount of "role change" allowed, provided that all parties are agreed about the change. If the employee doesn't fully agree, but his concerns have been taken into account to the extent that is possible, then the employer can make "reasonable" changes.

But I'd suggest that you go back to the beginning and examine the initial cause of the proposed change. You say that "a client has requested one employee be replaced". Is the client refusing to allow your employee on their premises? - in which case you have a strong reason to transfer your employee to other duties otherwise you cannot use his services at all. Or would the client accept that you are not in a position to replace your employee with another? I'd want to properly understand the client's changed requirements, and the reasons for them, before I'd go too far down the track of forcing a change on my employee.

If your client has a valid reason for not accepting your employee then you may decide that your company has a legitimate reason to transfer your employee to another suitable role. If your employee refuses a lawful and reasonable direction to transfer to that suitable new role, then you probably have grounds to terminate his employment.

Hope that this helps,
Greg.

Pez
13-07-2012, 07:58 PM
Thanks Greg, This is really helpful and it reaffirms what I was thinking.

I certainly hope it doesn't lead to the employee refusing the changes to his role, as that would not be a good outcome for anyone. Thankfully the changes won't result in him seeing the changes as a demotion as his tasks will change, but his role status will remain the same and the change of location is actually in his favour.


I appreciate you taking the time to share your opinion.

Pez.

Qld IR Consultant
15-07-2012, 07:59 AM
I'll play devils advocate here so you can cover all your bases:

1. Was the employee originally employed to fulfil that role?
2. Do they have an appointment/letter of offer detailing that role as being their substantive role?
3. Has the "issue" that has caused this request been investigated?
4. If their is no performance issues and it is for other reasons that an ordinary person would not consider reasonable then the employee may have grounds to dispute the move.

Just a couple of points for you to think about.....