Can an employer change any policies and procedures within the organisation, without consulting with staff, as long as it is communicated to them afterwards?

Posted in : First Tuesday Q&A ROI on 1 September 2015
Zelda Cunningham
Arthur Cox
Issues covered:

A distinction exists between contractual terms of employment and policies/procedures relating to work practices that are not contractual in nature. While a policy/procedure (e.g. modernisation of workspaces, disciplinary policy, IT security policy) may be varied/amended by an employer unilaterally, a contractual term (e.g. pay, pension scheme, hours of work) may not be altered without an employee's consent as this could amount to a breach of contract. 

It is prudent for an employment contract to specifically state (where applicable) that certain policies or procedures do not form part of an employee's contractual terms (e.g. disciplinary policy, grievance policy, etc). The contract

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Back to Q&A's This article is correct at 01/09/2015
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Zelda Cunningham
Arthur Cox

The main content of this article was provided by Zelda Cunningham. Contact telephone number is +353 1 618 0000 or email zelda.cunningham@arthurcox.com

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