www.iva.co.uk

hi
both me and hubby are in IVA's my hubby is a chef and where he works have been stuggleing for 3 years and they have made load of redundacey over the last 3 years now they have got to my hubby and they are asking him to take a 40%-50% paycut can they force him to do this. not sure where to go to for advice on empoloyment and advice would be good thanks

From my own experience I would say that they can not force a pay cut, however what happened to me was the company initially proposed a % pay cut as a measure to prevent any further job losses. However if this had not been agreed then the next step would have to be to look at restructuring (job losses) and staff would be placed on notice of redundancy

I have seen records of firms asking for 5-10% pay reductions, but 40-50% seems almost criminal to me! Smacks of his firm thinking they have "the upper hand" and using heavy handed scare tactics to make a bigger profit come April and as normal at the expense of the workers. However my ratings are not going to help your make your decision, sorry.

I don't think they can force you to do it, but they can make life unpleasant if you don't agree to it.

That's a lot to ask though.

Any changes to terms and conditions of employment have to be agreed by both sides - and the cut that they are expecting your husband to agree to is penal. Remember they have to pay at least the minimum wage, and they cannot make someone redundant and then employ someone else to fill the same job at a lower rate without risking an employment tribunal, paying compensation to the wronged employee and potentially a fine.

I am afraid that pay freezes and cuts are here to stay in most industries and professions - but fair is fair at the end of the day. Is your husband in a trades union who could help?

he had a pay freeze for last 3 years so he has stuck in there because he like the job and been there 10 years just they have only 5 chefs left the 2 below him are taking the paycut the 2 headchef don't have to take one as they will do most of the work so it's just my hubby he has refuesd as we just can't afford it. it will not only be a paycut his hours will drop to 20 and he will loose his job title os sous chef which he has worked 10 years for won't know what they have decided till monday it's the waiting that hard what to know now then we can decide what to do.

My husband has recently had no choice but to accept a pay cut, he's lost his travel money and 50p per hour, works out about £250 a month, notice his bosses lifestyles haven't changed but ours have, how can they expect the workers to give 100% for doing the same job for less money?

Hope you get a positive result sbusby - let us know.

I won't be getting any payrises for the forseeable future now and will see my pension contributions rise in April so effectively a paycut.