Deteriorating work environment

I work at a large firm where my employment situation has been deteriorating over the past year. My direct manager has become increasingly detached and focused on a personal side-business. Whilst I have been escalating concerns about absenteeism and potential violations of policy, they continue to employ him for relationship reasons. I was recently told that our team will shift to more of a support function which means that my career is heading south from here. I'm appalled that this decision was taken without any discussion, that my legitimate concerns have been ignored and I'm effectively being sidelined along with the problem manager. How strongly can I object to this transfer without being deemed a problem employee? I haven't done anything wrong and its a large enough organization that they should be able to find me an alternative if they wish to do the right thing. What are my rights in this situation and is it advisable to consult an employment lawyer? How much of an expense would that even be?

While it is unfortunate to hear that you are having work issues, I think you need to take a step back and think.


- how do you know there has been no discussion? Just because upper management does not consult lower employees does not mean this change has not been thought over in much greater detail than you know


- I will not discuss your legal rights because I do not know HK law, but getting lawyers or the government involved sounds like a disaster. Even if a lawyer helps you keep your position, you will forever be branded a troublemaker (rightfully so, in my opinion). You will be given extra grunt work with little chance of promotion


- what you should do is put in a transfer request to another division. Go talk to managers of other divisions and see if they need any personnel, sell yourself to them as if you were interviewing all over again


- just because you got hired to a position does not mean you have any moral right to keep it (I also doubt you have any legal rights to keep it either)


- if you can't get an internal transfer then start interviewing with outside companies. If you get any offers superior to your current position then you can inform your boss and see if they will then promote you. If they don't then quit and join your new job. If you can't get any offers for any positions superior to the one you currently hold then perhaps that explains your current situation.


Good luck, hopefully you can make it work out well (without involving lawyers).

Lucane, thank you for the thoughtful response. I'm quite sure there must have been a lot of discussion at a high level to come to this decision, but what I meant was that I wasn't consulted at any point. I know that employers can always choose to terminate a position for business reasons and involving a lawyer would be my last resort before other options are exhausted. However I still feel that I have some grounds to push back. The company has a strict policy on employee conduct, which my boss has been flouting for over a year. I have raised this repeatedly to HR and other managers. I also work in a highly regulated industry and arguably my boss has broken several regulations. Can't it be argued that the termination of my position (even though it's a transfer, my current position is basically being terminated) is wrongful dismissal? It's obviously their idea of managing the risk from this person's behaviour, except I'm getting sold down river. The fact that such a large organisation would continue to employ a person like this is a reflection of my boss' prominence, and also the level of repercussion/embarrassment if this conduct were to enter the public record from a legal complaint. This is a scenario I want to avoid, but if I'm going to get shafted, I need to secure the best outcome for myself. At least I could use some legal advice about how to raise my objections, so that my employer can realise that they need to put as much attention on my situation as they have on my boss.

frankly when it comes to your position and how it was changed, there's nothing you can do according to HK labour law. i have been through such changes too and we have even consulted some lawyers who all advised against it


also you really dont know what is happening to your boss in reality. maybe they have cut his grade, maybe they have cut his bonus, etc. you just dont know, so shut up and move on