Hi there,
I'm the manager of the payroll department (in an accounting firm environment). Today I have received an email from the owner of our company informing me that the payroll department will be merged with the data processing department and that in future I will have to report to that manager. My salary/benefits etc will all stay the same, but I'm no longer required to attend managers' meetings and have to take all my "orders" from the data processing manager.

I feel this is a demotion for me. I also feel that they could have at least discussed this with me and give me the opportunity to give my views. When I mentioned this to my boss she said that she does not see it as a demotion and that she is sorry I feel that way. I then asked why this was done and this was her answer: I need to streamline thedepartments, and have less people that are having to worry about admin and morepeople getting work done.
It just makes sense like this.Sorry you see it as a demotion, I do not.

With my last review in December she said that she was happy with my work and performance. I have never had any negative feedback in the past.

I then insisted that I still want to attend the managers meetings and she said that she has no problem with it.

This is really just so de-motivating for me. Do I have any rights? Surely emails like this cannot just be sent out and I must just fall in and accept all?

Thanks.