It is lawful to ask staff to reduce hours to prevent redundancy

Question

We are employed as registered nurses in a private hospital. Due to a decrease in patient numbers, our employer has invited all staff to reduce their hours of work by half an hour per day. This is not written in our employment contract and we therefore question its legality. Is our employer able to reduce our hours of work like this?

Answer

The notice from your employer which accompanied your letter invites you to agree to reduce your hours of work by half an hour per day. It goes on to say that if your employer is unable to get agreement from all staff, it will have to make some staff redundant. Your employer is acting lawfully. It cannot reduce your hours of work without your agreement, which is why it has invited you to agree to the reduction. It has also warned you that if you do not agree to the reduction, it will have to consider other options such as making some staff redundant. Although this may appear to you to be a threat, your employer is faced with a difficult situation. By attempting to share the burden equally between staff instead making some redundant, your employer is obviously trying to be as compassionate as possible.