Employer will not increase contract hours despite working full time for 2 years

[wet shoulder]

Hi,

 

My girlfriend has worked full time for 2 years on a 16 hour contract but her employer will not increase her contract hours. During this time she has been a model employee and is very well trained, but they are just flat refusing even though new employees have been taken on during this time.

 

This is now upsetting her to the point where she feels she will have to move on as she has no real protection for sickness, maternity, holidays etc and sometimes has shifts taken away and is left broke that month. She would really like to stay though so I was wondering if they are in breach of any employment regulations so we can take action?

 

Any help would be very gratefully received.

 

Thanks,

 

Wet Shoulder

[postggj]

Well if its confirmed that she has been doing 40 hours per week for the last 2 years then i would think custom and practice would dictate she is now full time

 

ill look into it

[wet shoulder]

Thanks a lot Postggj - I should probably clarify though: Her hours have ranged between the low 20s and mid 40s over the 2 years. Her average hours are probably mid 30s, which we could confirm by checking wage slips / p60s.

Edited March 30, 2011 by wet shoulder

[zippygbr]

the fact she has 'shifts taken away from her' ( i.e. to her actual contracted hours , suggests that there is not necessarily the hours available to increase the establishment of the area in which she works, and that her extra hours have been in relation to picking up slack from absence / un covered leave and from contingent funding to cover 'extra work' rather than from the funded establishment ... has the make of the team in the area she works in changed much in the 2 years in question i.e. have any full time staff left and been replaced with full time new staff?

[wet shoulder]

zippygbr, she has been asking for more contract hours for over 18 months during which time three permanent part-time staff have been taken on in areas she is trained and experienced in.

[zippygbr]

it appears that the employer does not want full time staff ... it's not retail is it ?

[wet shoulder]

Yes - a supermarket

[pmj91]

I could stand to be corrected but I'm pretty certain that they are within their rights. I am in an extremely similar situation myself and I'm about to leave.

If they were employing new full-time staff, it could be different (no idea - wait for expert opinion). But as far as I know, they don't have to take on one less part time member so as to give your partner full time. Annoying, and damn depressing, but understandable.

 

The reason they employ lots of part time people (especially in retail) is because

a) it gives a larger bank of people to use as cover in the case of absence (sickness, holiday, etc)

b) if there is a large staff turnover in the place (maybe due to poor management, people hating their jobs, etc), any people leaving would cause less damage to the business. If there was 2 people doing a role part time, and one leaves, they still have "half" a worker doing the job. If the job was full time, they would be stuck until they re-employed.

[wet shoulder]

Miltonguyphil, yeah I understand there are many benefits to the employer in doing this such as what you mentioned plus them having to pay out less to employees like my girlfriend in the case of sickness etc as they are working over their contract. What made me think they may be in breach of regulations is that they are basically circumnavigating laws that were put in place to protect employees.