KEY POINTS:
Two years ago, I was asked to expand my role as a mid-level technical manager in one mill to cover three other mills owned by the company after years of highest performance among the mills. I was told that a proper salary review and formal announcement of the new expanded position would be given but that has not happened. Recently, my original function has been taken over by another manager without prior consultation with me. On top of it, the other mills are forming their own group as no formal announcement of my expanded position has been made by the upper management. Basically, I am now sitting in an undefined position with no mills recognising its existence. Could you please tell me what right do I have in such a situation, ie redundancy or reinstatement of my original position?
It appears from the information at hand that this is not a redundancy situation.
You accepted a job expansion two years ago. From the information you have provided, it is not clear whether you have raised the issue with your employer. If you have not approached your employer about your concerns, you should do so. You should be proactive in this regard. In this situation, I recommend that you do the following:
Write to your employer and explain that:
* You were promised that your new expanded role would be made official by a formal announcement and this has not occurred.
* You were promised that you would be given a proper salary review and this has not occurred.
* You would like your employer to respond to your concerns within a specific timeframe.
* You would like to meet to discuss your concerns.
* You should also explain to your employer that, because it has not formally recognised your role, you feel uncomfortable about your original function being taken over by another employee.
If your employer does not respond to your concerns, then raise a personal grievance based on unjustified disadvantage in employment.
You should raise your grievance with your employer within 90 days of its refusal to address your concerns.
Your employer has an obligation to act in good faith. Good faith in an employment context means that your employer should be active and constructive in dealing with your concerns so that both parties can establish and maintain a productive relationship.
The failure of your employer to address your issues in good faith and its refusal to implement a salary review and to formalise your role as promised should give you legitimate grounds for a personal grievance.
If you choose to raise a personal grievance be aware that this adversarial approach could potentially cause friction between yourself and your employer. So, do not resort to this approach until you have given your employer the opportunity to address your concerns.
This sort of situation can be difficult to resolve so you may want to seek the guidance of an employment law specialist/lawyer. If you are a member of a union, you may want to seek the guidance of a union representative.
