8 hour contracts

[lemonpinklady]

Hi, can anyone give my daughter some advice. She works for a large national company on an 8 hour contract although every week works 20 hours, the shop shuts at 8 p.m. and they normally have cleared up now by 8.30 which gives her time to get home before its too dark. The management are now saying that they have to stay later, which seems a but rich when she only gets holiday pay for 8 hours, despite always working 20 hours. Can they suddently make them stay later?

 

Many thanks for any help.

[Emmzzi]

Is she on minimum wage and is the extra time paid or unpaid?

 

How easy to get another job in your area?

[Conniff]

No they certainy can't especially if she has a contract that says otherwise. If she isn't getting paid for these extra hours that would mean her hourly rate is decreasing and she could be being paid below the minimum level set by regulation.

[stu007]

Hi

 

Does her payslip show these hours and her rate of pay?

[renegadeimp]

If she has a contract to work 8 hours, and for certain times, then they cannot change it without full consulation and your daughters approval. Any hours above 8 hours a week is considered overtime and is at the discretion of the employer to be given, and to your daughter to accept.

 

Also, i would be considering consulting an employment lawyer, as her employer seems to be breaking the law in regards to her pay.

[Emmzzi]

let's slow down a bit on the lawyers. They cost a lot!

 

Flexible hours are very common in retail and the poster has yet to tell us what the contract says, and if the extra hours are paid or unpaid.

 

Full story required before advising forking out for the lawyers

[renegadeimp]

I work in retail, and manage a few people on 12 hour contracts. Yes, we can say they are flexible, but the person who is flexible has to agree to the hours suggested and in advance. If we were to force the person to work later than their normal hours, or fire them, we would be in a world of trouble.

 

If the employee has worked set hours or finished by a set time for a while, then those hours under law become as good as a written contract, whether a written contract was formed or not. To change those hours to a much later time would mean prior consultation with good notice ( a few weeks), and an agreement of the employee. We cant just go to the employee a day or two before and say "right, your hours are changing whether you like it or not".

 

As for payment, the employee would get a base rate at minimum wage for the base hours. Any hours after that would be paid either at the regular hourly rate up to around 39 hours a week, or if the company has negotiated with the employees in a pay rise, overtime pay.

 

If the employee is working more than the 8 hours, then by law, the employee is required to be paid at the bare minimum, minimum wage for all hours worked. If the employee worked 20 hours a week, but only got paid for 8, then we would have a massive lawsuit on our hands for breaking employment law, working time regulations, minimum wage regulations etc.

[stu007]

Hi

 

I would have to agree with renegadeimp on this.

 

Also could you please let us know how long she has been employed with the company?

[Emmzzi]

renegadeimp, all useful data, and I agree with most of it except depending on what the contract says they may indeed be able to request extra hour at the drop of a hat.

 

I don;t think we can help further until the original poster explains the situation ore, but given it has been a couple of days, I am not sure she is coming back...

[renegadeimp]

Yes, they might be able to ASK the employee at the drop of a hat to work an extra hour, but that employee can still say no. Especially if the employer is trying to force new hours on the employee.

 

As i said, if the daughter has been working the 20 hours for a good while, and is still on th 8 hour contract, then the 20 hours would be treated as a contract in itself, regardless if there is nothing in writing.

 

I hope the OP does come back as there are still a good amount of points that need to be clarified.

[lemonpinklady]

Hi everyone, Sorry I haven't been on-line. My wireless went down and had to wait for a new modem in the post. Thanks for all replies. My daughter has been employed on an 8 hour contract since she started with the company in April 2011. She does get paid for each quarter of an hour she does. Any hours over and above the 8 hours are listed on her payslip as extra. She gets paid £6.30. Thanks again for your interest.

[lbruk]

I would certainly advise against going in "all guns blazing" to begin with. If she is unhappy with how things are then the simple thing to do is to speak to the manager. If nothing happens then raise a grievance. They are paying her for the additional hours, and i am sure that if she said she couldn't stay they would let her go on time? If not then get the contract amended to state she works to 2030. If they will not do that then you have every right to say that you are contracted to 8pm, and although they can "expect" a little leeway on the odd 5-10 minutes here and there if it is habitual then she should be rightly recompensed.

 

Although you have said she gets paid £6.30, we also need to know how old she is as there are different minimum wages for different age brackets.

 

You would be surprised how often employment problems can be solved by talking to managers and not getting employment lawyers involved.

[renegadeimp]

Agreed ibruk. the best way to handle this is to be calm.and professional. Gef all facts and information together and let them make the mistakes.that you can quickly grab and act on.

 

The second a peraon starts going in 'gjns blazing' is the second they lose any power they might have had.