Club left to rue if some sue
BY ROSS PILCHER
HEARTS asking staff to take a pay cut or request contracts be terminated isn’t unlawful – but they could face a legal fallout.
So says Sharon Tan, a partner at law firm Mishcon de Reya who has worked with English clubs and Formula One.
She revealed: “It’s only unlawful if they impose it.
“What they’ve done by asking the question does not do anything. But if they say, ‘We are definitely going to do it’ then it would be.
“There’s nothing wrong with saying to somebody, ‘Can we change our deal?’.
“In and of itself that’s not unlawful. By asking they’re covering themselves a little but they haven’t put it brilliantly.
“It sounds like it’s a little bit more authoritarian than, ‘Can we please agree?’ It sounds as if it’s closer to the unilateral, ‘You can suck it up or else.’ When they say employees can ask for their contract to be terminated, it’s a bit of a misnomer, isn’t it?
“What they’re trying – inelegantly – to say is, ‘If you don’t want to do this, you can accept our bad behaviour and walk away from the deal.’ Those aren’t the only options.
“You can sue for breach of contract, you can sue for unlawful deduction from wages. But, ultimately, where does all of this end?
“It doesn’t sound like it’s going to end in a happy place so the commercial reality is what it is.”
Club sources insist administration hasn’t been discussed, a process that would see 14 days for administrators to decide on adopting contracts.
Tan said: “If they chose not to adopt the employment contracts, employees only have the right to go to the National Insurance Fund to try to get the basic minimum the Government provides in these circumstances.”