Consistently Working Above Contract Hours - Rights?

[d0llifer]

Hi everyone,

 

I have a contract of 16 hours per week. My average hours worked comes to just over 30 each week. I have always done about this since I started working there 3 years ago. Do I have any rights as to getting my contract hours upped, or do I just have to settle for what I am currently doing?

 

Any advice appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[SabreSheep]

Have you asked your employer about recognising your longer hours?

[d0llifer]

They want to get everyone's average hours down. They are employing more people to do so. I will ask the union also to see what can be done. I just wondered what the lay of the land was.

Thanks for the reply.

[SabreSheep]

Your union will be better placed to advise you as they will have access to any partnership agreements that give you extra rights above and beyond the statutory requirements.

 

Good job on being a union member though

[ericsbrother]

do you get paid for the extra time? I would be more worried about exploitation of part-time workers if you dont so make sure you discuss that with your union.

[Gemma.]

When you take holiday do you get the full 30 hours holiday pay per week or just 16? If you work irregular hours I am sure they have to work out holiday pay over the previous 12 weeks?

[king12345]

Unfortunately many employers do this and they don't pay overtime or give time in lieu.

A friend of mine works for a well known coffee shop head office as a manager.

35 hours contract and he works an average of 60.

He's also on permanent standby at weekend and he can only leave the country if authorised.

We sat down one day and calculated that he would be better off working as a barista on just above minimum wage!!!

When he pointed this out to his boss he was told he could leave and someone else would happily take his place.

Unfortunately this is a reality and unless you gain hard evidence of the hours worked and take them to et, there is not much you can do.

Even if you have evidence of working overtime, they could simply say that you weren't able to finish your 'reasonable' workload on time and had to stay longer.

TU could be corrupted and just brush this under the carpet.

Time to get another job, unless you can convince them to pay you.

Good luck

[Ganymede]

I used to have an 8 hour contract at the store I worked in and always work 28+ hours a week.

[Gemma.]

As a manager he was probably salaried though?

 

There are some ways of checking and proving hours. One is the fire book, fire register etc. Log in's on tills are useful too, so always try and use your own.

[Gemma.]

I used to have an 8 hour contract at the store I worked in and always work 28+ hours a week.

 

But you could have asked to work only 8, and they would have had to provide at least 8 hours work. A lot of retailers give low hour contracts so that at quiet times of the year they can drop back to the minimum.