Employment law question

[speedy_thrills]

If you are employed by a company that changes hands will your entitlement to leave be carried forward between employers? I ask because the company I work for is changing hands and I’ve been asked to sign a new contract that makes no mention of compensation or lieu carried forward.

[kylie]

My understanding is that you arent forced to sign any contract until you agree with it. Best to talk to them about your concerns directly and ask them to ammend the contract to suit. They can easily transfer details/paragraphs over from your last one. The problem is once yr signed you cant go back to neg.

Oh yeah edited to add make sure theres a good redundancy clause too or makes reference to a reduncancy clause somewhere. Many employees get stung by his.

Edited by kylie on Saturday 28th October 00:44

[Kiwi Carguy]

If a business is being sold the existing employer is obligated to pay out all outstanding leave, bonuses etc unless it was part of the sale agreement between them and the new owner. If employees are offered work with the new employer and there is redundancy on offer from the existing employer then it is our undestanding that this isn't available if the job offer is accepted. For the employee the most lucrative position would be to take the redundacy and then shortly after seek employment with the new owner but they would run the risk of not getting a job. Contracts are obviously binding once signed so any alterations, changes etc would need to be done before hand. If the employee is happy with the contract offered they have the right to negiotiate. Having said that the employer may not be bother with a demanding employee depending on the ease of filling the job or not.

Hope this helps. We employ 25 people. Our only provision for redundancy is that each staff member gets 3 weeks wages. This is in the contract and would obviously vary from place to place. We have no redundancy package or scheme. I hope it doesnt come to that. All that being said the employment law is like Russian roulette. Many wierd results have come from the employment court.

[Kiwi XTR2]

You need to look at all the terms & conditions of both your existing and offered contract including length of service etc

A lot of contracts have assignment clauses that apply if the business is being sold as a going concern. In that case there would be no need to sign a new contract.

[speedy_thrills]

Thanks guys, will start doing some checking and comparison when I get home tonight.