Employment rights

[gloucester girl]

Hello,

 

Can any one give some advice? My husband works as a catering chef. Luckily he still has a job. However, he has been demoted from his position and replaced with another member of staff. There have been no problems with his work at all. He orders all the food and gets good weekly written feedback from the catering, so could prove that there has been absolutely no poor performance issues.

 

All kitchen staff have taken a pay cut and my husband was the highest paid. But once the dust settles, he will be doing a lesser role and I have no doubt that his pay would be decreased in the future. This could explain why he has been pushed out of his job.

 

He has been working there for 3 years. Does he have any rights? Can he do anything or does he just have to accept it (or storm out - more likely!). Thanks in advance.

[Ken]

It makes a difference if this is a temporary change during the COVID-19 crisis.

In normal circumstances this sounds like constructive dismissal might apply, but Fair Work have relaxed a lot of conditions for the duration. Employees receiving Job Keeper can basically be asked to perform any task they are able to perform regardless of whether it's in their normal job description or not. Naturally all Health Safety in the work place and minimum pay rates still apply though.

[gloucester girl]

Thanks for the reply. 

No, it won't be temporary and yes he is on  Job Keeper. But I can see that what you say here "Employees receiving Job Keeper can basically be asked to perform any task they are able to perform regardless of whether it's in their normal job description or not. " would probably apply.