After four years in my present employment without having a written contract, my boss has given us all contracts to sign. This is apparently at the bank’s insistance. We have grown lately, and the bank are keen to put us on a more professional footing.
So I took the contract away, and read it.
One of the terms says that if I cause any accidental damage, then I am liable for paying the full amount for repairs…that I am also liable for paying the excess…and that if our insurance premiums are increased as a result of any accident I have, that I will be liable to pay the increased premium.
So I said “Well, I won’t be signing that”.
My boss says that it is a standard driver’s contract (and in fairness, it was obviously taken from a template) but I said that I still wouldn’t sign it. So we are at stalemate now.
So is this a standard clause in a contract? Am I right to refuse to sign it? Any thoughts?
Having seen many drivers contracts, If I had seen that one It would have been the the 1st one that had that clause in it!
I would never sign it!
As a matter of law you do have a contract of employment. the verbal one when you started. but remember verbal contracts are not worth the paper they arnt written on!
Vince:
My boss says that it is a standard driver’s contract (and in fairness, it was obviously taken from a template) but I said that I still wouldn’t sign it. So we are at stalemate now.
So is this a standard clause in a contract? Am I right to refuse to sign it? Any thoughts?
Vince
It isn’t standard. I’ve never seen it on any contracts I’ve signed.
Refuse to sign it. State that it is an unreasonable clause.
Tell your boss that he either removes it, accepts that you’re not going to sign it or he can look for another driver.
That looks like the RHA template Vince. That was in our new contract, but we got the boss to change ‘accidental’ to ‘malicious’. You might also find another clause which says something along the lines of, ‘If you refuse to allow your employer to search your cab, they can take that refusal as an admission that you have something you shouldn’t, hidden in your cab’.
Why we have bothered with a new employment contract I’ve no idea. Unless business picks up dramatically, in the next couple of months I’ll be made redundant, again .
Do you (or anyone else) know of any companies, who pay reasonable wages, looking for drivers for International work
I would prefer to do a couple of trips over the water, then a couple of weeks working in the UK, so I could get some time at home. Six weeks away, with Murfitts, then a week off was a bit to long away .
But in the long run employment contracts aren’t worth much anyway. I’d have thought any tribunal or court would kick something like that out straight away.
sorry to laugh vince but your boss is taking the mick m8.i’d love my gaffer to try and put that in our contracts.tell him to shove it where the sun don’t shine.
If you refuse to sign it, and he lets you go because of that, then unless he can prove that it was a clause in your existing (verbal) contract, then you can probably claim unfair (constructive) dismissal.
It doesn’t sound right to me, it may even be illegal, take it to an employment lawer, CAB or Union. But I wouldn’t sign it.
Although I did hear of a similar clause in the contract for MOD drivers, they could be charged 10% of the damage. This came to light when one bloke dropped a $600,000 Propeller from a forklift and the union started looking into it. It’s a bit of a worry when some of the gear they move like jet engines are worth millions.
No it’s not standard and he’s taking the Michael. Does not say a lot for your boss! Yes fleet insurance does work like car insurance on a no claims basis, but you should not be penalised if you have an accident by your employer. Personally I’d challenge him on his statement and ask him for evidence that shows its a “standard” contract.
Even though you have no written contract, any time after, I believe three years of the same practice then a certain amount of precedent is set. To insist on a change of terms and conditions now I’m positive must be done by negotiation anyway, suggest as others advise see an Employment Lawyer for a view, feel sure he will not be able to pass his public liability, or duty of care under health and safety legislation to you, which it appear is being tried, through this back door method. Whatever you do, don’t sign until you have taken advice and even then cover yourself by making sure all discussions and outcomes are clearly documented in writing.
Sounds below the belt to me to pay all these costs. I thnk we are contracted to pay an agreed excess and that is all but to my knowledge nobody has been asked to pay. If it was that bad they were sacked for gross misconduct.
Re the whole contract thing. it does not matter what you consider to be fair or unfair, if you sign the contract you are agreeing to those terms.
We were issued with new contracts last year (after never having one dispite years of employment) the bottom line was if you did’nt agree to the terms you would be put on a months notice of termination of contract…but they were not sacking you because they were offering you future employment under the terms of the new contract. If you did not sign then the attitude was …‘the gates are not locked, walk away!’
Employment law is very cleverly written and with a good brief an employer has the ability to do as he pleases abeit with the loss of a good emplyee. These days many employers don’t give a [zb] about the employee as long as the work is covered. They will just put pressure on the TM’s to make sure there are enough guys lining up for the job. the worst case is they need to use agency guys and pay a bit more…as long as they don’t have to give in to the employee.
If it needs stars to get it round the word censor it’s not allowed!!! L.
Vince I can tell you from first hand experience that by refusing to sign the new contract your boss aint got a leg to stand on, if you went to a tribunal for unfair dismissal for refusing to sign the new contract.
As everyone will recall, last year I was took to a tribunal and one of the factors that caused me to lose the case was the fact that I could not produce a signed contract of employment for my sister, despite proving that she had removed paperwork from the office when she left (She produced both a fax and an email that had allegedly been printed off in the office) Her COE was one of the missing documents, we even produced the name and number of a police officer in Hull who was investigating a report of theft against her, showing she was untrustworthy.
The paperwork she produced was nothing important just a fax to our accountants advising she was resigning and telling them to finalise her wages, the email was bull as it was to an alleged customer saying I was sacking her, but she’d written that herself on the laptop she had at home so it was thrown out.
The main fact is, if your employer cannot produce your signature on a COE (I supplied Copies which were rejected by the Tribunal because her signature was missing from them) then it is thrown out and the employee is awarded the case regardless.
An Employer can give 16 weeks notice to the employee that their contract will be changed against the employees wishes, but, nothing can happen for those 16 weeks though.
ralliesport:
Well the law states that you have to have a written contract after 13 weeks of full employment
You not entitled to a written contract, but you are entitled to a written statement of employment.
If a contract contains clauses that are not legal then even if you sign it they can’t make you do this. Some years ago I worked in a warehouse and signed a contract that said I would do overtime, after a few years I refused to work overtime, it caused a row between me and the assitant manager, but as you can’t be forced to work overtime there was nothing they could do.
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