Legal advice on contract changes

Questioner

My wife has had a permanent 16-hour contract with a healthcare institution for quite some time. Now, suddenly, without any prior notice, it has been announced that every employee who has a contract of less than 24 hours will be converted to a 0-hour contract. In addition, she will then only be put in shifts of a maximum of 4 hours, which means she would have to work an extra day to get her hours. However, there is also a small catch, namely that with a 0-hour contract her salary also drops a scale. This healthcare institution does all this under the umbrella called reorganization. Now my question is, is this now allowed under this umbrella and if not, can this still be contested.

Lawyer

No, the employer is certainly not allowed to do this, not even under the guise of a reorganization. The employer cannot unilaterally change an employment contract for an indefinite period into a zero-hours contract. I therefore advise your wife not to accept this and not to sign a new contract.