excessive work hours unpaid

[mina2974]

Hi

 

took a job with a well known internet provider installing their systems, the contract for installing is out sourced to another company,

 

the problem that we are having is that we are being forced to work from 7am to 7pm , we are given 7 jobs and regardless of the time we must compleate the job, if there are issues and a job takes 3 hours we still have to finish the other jobs even if it takes til 10pm. we are told that we dont get paid for driving between jobs even though they can be over half an hour journeys and in company vehicles, we are being given less then 24 hours notice to give up our time off and come into work and are being forced to help others finish jobs without pay, this is happening regulary and some nights i have had to work until 8-9pm with out any extra wage.

I cant afford to leave my job as i have a sub prime mortgage but need to know if there is anything that i can do, i am physically exhausted from the hours im working and hardly see my children

Any advice would be appreciated, last month on the hours i worked my hourly rate worked out as under £2

sam

[gemspan]

Hi there

 

Regarding minimum wage. You are entitled to be paid for the time it takes you to go from job to job but not from leaving your home to go to the first job and leaving the last job to go home. Your company is breaking the law by not paying you for this.

 

You are entitled to received the minimum wages for EVERY HOUR you work. Are you required to fill in time sheets? This is also an obligation that your employer has to meet.

 

This sounds to me as if you have a clear case of being paid under the minimum wage unless you receive a bonus for completing the jobs. If you only receive a set wage then you are clearly not being paid the minimum wage.

 

What does your contract of employment say relating to hours of work?

 

Kind regards

Gemspan

[SickofA&L]

Hi there Mina. Contracts of employment are quite close to my heart at the moment. The first thing you need to do is get out your contract and read through it carefully looking for these points.

Did signing your contract waive your right to the 48 hour weeks employment law? I've seen quite a few companies who hide this away in their contracts so that they can make you work as long as they like. Look for lines such as 'You are required to work the hours which the company deems necessary in order to complete your duties' and the obvious 'by signing this contract I am opting out of the 48 hour working time regulations'.

With regard to wages you are entitled to wages from your starting time '7am' till finishing '7pm?' with between 1/2 hour to an hour unpaid for lunch. The only way they can get out of paying you between jobs is if the company are sub contracting you (effectively making you self employed).

I would advise that you go to the CAB for further advice but if we are working to the theory that you are an employee of that company I can see 3 breaches of employment law!

[SickofA&L]

Just had another thought. Are you a salaried employee or paid by job allocation? How many hours would you say you work on average each week?

[gemspan]

Hi there

 

Yes, I do know that lots of employers try to get out of the 48 hrs per week rule. One way that my previous employer did it was to rota shifts so that we would be working from Wednesday one week to Wednesday the next etc., this effectively meant that our rota was spread over 2 weeks. The rota's were 8 weekly so they could "tweek" it to make sure you were never actually working more than 48 hrs in one week, although you may be working 60 hrs over 6 days continuously.

 

Good luck

Gemspan

[Boogler]

Hi there

 

Yes, I do know that lots of employers try to get out of the 48 hrs per week rule. One way that my previous employer did it was to rota shifts so that we would be working from Wednesday one week to Wednesday the next etc., this effectively meant that our rota was spread over 2 weeks. The rota's were 8 weekly so they could "tweek" it to make sure you were never actually working more than 48 hrs in one week, although you may be working 60 hrs over 6 days continuously.

 

Good luck

Gemspan

 

Thats my issue with my employer.

 

They are making me work from the friday round to thursday-7 days on the trot but techicnally more then the 42 hours im contracted for

[mina2974]

Hi the contract of emplyment is very vauge and open to interpretation, last week from getting to the yard to finishing my last job i worked 55 hours and this was a below average week, we get a bonus for job 7 which we have no choice but to do,

we get paid a day rate plus bonus for extra jobs (you lose bonus money if you dont compleate jobs), but when your made to work with someone else you dont get anything as only the person who's tech id is used gets paid, the wage slips dont seperate bonus from day rate so its virtually impossible to work out whats day rate and what is a bonus, i only get paid under 1,100 on a high wage month and have had under 950 on a bad wage month, there is a start time on contract but no finish time, if we dont finsh all our jobs by 5.30 we get told we have to stay until they are finished, if we finish early we get told we are paid to be at work til 5.30 and have to stay until the person we are working with has finished all of their jobs regardless of the time

[mina2974]

HI sickofa&l

 

would you be able to tell me which employment laws you belive have been broken so i can do some reading up on them, thanks loads

sam

[gemspan]

Hi

 

I think this could fall foul of the working time directive if you havent signed to say otherwise.

 

Is there any way you could have a chat with ACAS. Their number is in the sticky under useful contacts.

 

Knd regards

Gemspan

[mina2974]

hi

we are paid a day rate of £59 +£10 bonus for turning up for work

there are 2 rates of pay depending on your completion rate

we have to do 6 jobs a day regardless of time but our job sheets always have 7 jobs on it (1 bonus job £12)all 7 must be completed my the end of the day any reason for a job not being completed goes against your completion rate IE customer not in ,cable damaged from road to house all the things that are not the installers fault and cannot be fixed by an installer .

my contract is worded in a way to opt out of the HR working time reg , i have questioned theses matters but was told thats the way it is and if i don't like it theres the door

[mina2974]

Hi all sorry for yet another post, i complained about some of the issues i had with my employer, a manager turned up at my house for an informal chat on monday(my day off), on wednesday i went into work and was called into office for another informal chat(it was documented and signed) a job i did on the 4th was audited on the 16th and they accused me of not putting a wire in properly, the person that audited the job was the person i complained about. also the wire was in a location that would of had to be accessed by anyone who did an install in that area

looks like i am being set up to be dismissed:mad:,

[SickofA&L]

Mina, from this point onwards get a diary and log absolutely everything that happens at work ie. jobs done, hours worked in day, conversations with other members of staff (managers/supervisors) any letters sent to you and informal meetings you've had.

Reason for this is because if they try anything funny or accuse you of anything you can check against accusations in your diary.

Another thing, they are not allowed to just turn up on your door step to discuss things and if they request meetings with you they need to give you 48 hours notice and you are allowed to take somebody in with you as a witness to the conversation.

I notice you mentioned that your contract says you are expected to do 6 jobs a day but they are forcing you to do 7. Without scrutinising your contract I cannot say absolutely but it sounds like you have every right to go home once the 6th job is completed if you choose to do so without being penalised by your employer.

Out of interest how long have you been working for this employer?

[mina2974]

Hi

I have only worked for them since Jan 08, I am logging the hours i work each day as have been advised to send a months log along with the wage slip to the mimimun wage wage people, will also add the info you have advised to this.

I am looking for another job but there is so little out there at the moment:(

[mina2974]

HOURS OF WORK

Employees are required to be on site and ready to commennce allocated work no later than 8.00am, unless otherwise directed, and must allow sufficient time for collecting materials, loading etc prior to this. your normal days of work will be tuesday to saturday, however you may be required to work on your days off, If this happens you will be given sufficient notice. Working hours may be varied at the reasonable discretion of the Employer to complement the workflow and meet the needs of the business. You are required to comply with any monitoring of the hours the company might introduce.

Remuneration

on completion fo training and work of a consistently satisfactory standard, you will be classed as a grade a technician, your salary will be increased to £13,260 plus bonuses and benefits.

 

That's the exact wording from the contract