Unpaid extra hours and possible variation/breach of contract

[honeybee13]

Hello all, I hope I haven't made my heading too complicated.

 

I have an employment query and hope the kind people in this forum might be able to help me/us, please.

 

My husband works for a large-ish company on a part-time basis, in an administrative capacity. I don't want to give too many details because of confidentiality, but he is relatively senior.

 

His contract says he is required to work 20 hours a week, and extra hours from time to time. At the moment, he works about 10 extra hours per week in the office, because of urgent problems that need to be resolved, but he would like to stop this. He doesn't take a lunch break, or if he does it's about 15 minutes because of the amount of admin to be done.

 

The reason for working part-time was to have a better quality of life and reduce his stress level, as he could have found a full-time job had he wanted to.

 

My husband's boss thinks he should work extra unpaid hours on a weekly basis. I spoke to the acas helpline and the advisor was great. I believe he said that extra hours worked should at least be paid the minimum wage, which isn't happening. He also said that demanding extra hours could be disregarding the spirit of the contract.

 

Am I right about the minimum wage aspect? I assumed that maybe you divided the salary by the hours worked, including 50% extra, to see if it ended up under the minimum wage per hour, but the man at acas gave me the impression that this is not the case and that extra hours count separately.

 

Currently, the job is impinging on our home life and my husband's stress levels, because he is regularly working on the days he isn't meant to work, [apart from the 10 extra hours when he's in the office], and would prefer not to think about the office.

 

Does anyone have advice for us please?

[divadog]

i,m new to this also, but does he have a contract

[divadog]

sorry i'm being thick, just noticed he has a contract.the extra hours they have included, does it state how much, or not

[divadog]

don,t know whether i'm 100% correct but any hours worked over your contracted hours is overtime. if you have no rate for them stated in your contract, they must be paid at no less than the minimum wage unless agreed with by husband

[BeauBrummie]

Hi Honeybee,

 

This really depends on what his "Terms & Conditions of Employment" state.

 

If it is stated that your husband will receive £xxxx for 20 hours work then he is on a salary and any hours over that should be seen as entitlement to extra pay.

 

If on the other hand the statement says he will receive £xxxx without the hours stipulatiuon then this is where alot of employers fall foul of the minimum wage.

 

So you need to see the exact wording of his terms of employment and take it from there----in any case your husband should not be paid in any circumstances less that the minimum wage that is agains the law.

 

Beau

[divadog]

glad BeauBrummie is here, tried to help, but am prob out of my league, goodluck honeybee, hope everything turns out ok your in good hands

[BeauBrummie]

glad BeauBrummie is here, tried to help, but am prob out of my league, goodluck honeybee, hope everything turns out ok your in good hands

 

Hey, not a problem----we all gotta start somewhere---I was the same as you some 800 odd posts ago:wink:

 

Beau

[divadog]

you don't look aday over 700 posts lol.

[BeauBrummie]

you don't look aday over 700 posts lol.

 

 

 

 

:grin: lol

[divadog]

nice chatting with u, hope to catch you soon x

[honeybee13]

Hi guys, it's very kind of you to reply. I will look out the contract tomorrow and post again.

 

In a short time on this forum, I've been seriously impressed with the dedication of the members. I've tried to contribute myself where I feel able to comment.

 

Thank you again.

[honeybee13]

Hello again. Here is what the contract says. I'm paraphrasing a little bit, because I've seen the problems Deathbycrayons had and feel slightly paranoid.

 

There isn't a lot of detail about salary or hours in the contract and they aren't mentioned together in a paragraph anywhere. The salary is stated as £xxxx per annum, then it goes on to explain how it will be paid-monthly in arrears, bank details needed, etc.

 

For working hours, it says he is required to work 20 hours a week and that from time to time he will be expected to work extra hours and that these will not 'accrue remuneration'. It also says the hours can be varied, with consultation.

 

As I said in my first post, the extra hours aren't happening from time to time, but every week. There hasn't been any consultation about varying his hours.

 

That's all I can find on pay and hours, would be really grateful for any comments.

[BeauBrummie]

Ok,

 

As the hours and pay seems a little ambiguos in his contract, it may be beneficial to you to work out the hours worked in say the last 3 months or 12 weeks whichever is easier and divide that number of hours by the total gross pay for the same period---does it equal more than £5.80 per hour?

 

If the above scenario is not an issue, then your husband will need to raise a grievance with the HR dept asking them to investigate why his hours have increased consistantly and registering the fact that he is unhappy with the situation.

 

Beau

[honeybee13]

Thank you Beau, that's very kind of you. The calculation you suggest would end up as above the minimum wage, so I understand what you say.

 

That was one of my queries really, to make sure I'd understood what the acas helpline told me. I thought they said that every extra hour should be paid at least the minimum wage, although like you, I would have averaged the salary over all the hours worked.

 

Acas also mentioned the possibility of discrimination, because I don't think full-time staff are asked to work on their non-work days. Mr honeybee was meant to work 3 days a week.

 

Please keep in touch.

 

I hope it is sunny in Devon. It isn't here now.

[BeauBrummie]

Acas also mentioned the possibility of discrimination, because I don't think full-time staff are asked to work on their non-work days. Mr honeybee was meant to work 3 days a week.

 

Hi Honeybee13.

 

A proper investigation would reveal issues such as this, and also would reveal any possible discriminations against Mr Honeybee.

 

If your husband did not feel that his grievance was dealt with adequatley then there MAY be case for him to resign and sue for constructive dismissal-----but that is a long way off at this point.

 

The first thing is to let the Company know that he is not happy doing all of the hours for free!! ---- can be done verbally but is probably best in writing. If he writes and gives them 7 days to reply that should be a reasonable time I would say.

 

Beau

[honeybee13]

Hello Beau Brummie and thank you once again for that. I would like to send you a PM if you would let me, but I don't know how to do that!

[citizenB]

How are you progressing with this issue, honeybee ?

[honeybee13]

Hello CB, thank you for asking. It's still happening, but the hours are less at the moment. We'll see how it is after Xmas.

 

Kind regards.