HR advice

[Shifu]

The original contract you have signed with this Nowegian company is legaly binding even if the company was later aquired by another one. You have a confirmation letter from the new owners that confirms it. The new deal they propose, changes the conditions of the original Contract and you can choose not to accept it, and they can not force you to do so. I went through similar situation where few engineers myself included were moved to a different manufacturing site within the same company. Some conditiond there were different to the one we worked before and we were assured that our original agrement was still in force though we didnt get anything in writing. Some time later two of the transferees were made redundant and the HR f%ckers tried to rip them off on the redundancy payments citing the current site conditions. They went to court and easily won. After that the HR tried to unify all the contracts and rolled out new agreement with some changes of a conditions. It meant a significant financial loses in comparison with old contracts. The difficulty was that the law was slightly different for professionals on salaries over 90K. Most people signed out of fear as there are pussies everywhere. Few of us refused and were subjectewd to goroup talks, individual talks, then threats etc but we held firm. After a while they have given up but the relationship with our HR deparmtment was frosty for months. When the big wave of redundancies come in (automotive industry) we got all our money while those who signed were f&*cked over. That is just life. You have to stand up for your rights because the only ones you got, are the ones you defend. The emplyment laws are different in each state and the federal laws are different again. Foreign companies have to operate under federal legislation and where it comes to contract, the rules are very clear. You are right and do not give up. I would suggest seek an advice of an industrial relations lawyer. There is no need to abuse your employer and burn the bridges. Be civil with them but do not let them bully you into anything. Someone said that big HR departments are oh so right and tight. Bulshit. They often as incompetent as any other departments and what they are trying to do now just proves it.