Overtime / discrimination?

[gnuscubadog]

My contract states that I will not receive any money in exchange for any hours worked over my contracted hours, except at the Company's discretion from time to time.

 

Over the summer, I worked as an engineer/manager on-site, alongside 30 other employees (labourers) who all raked in approximately 15 hours a week of overtime paid at x1.5 their normal rate. I counted up all the hours we did and calculated that, had I been paid overtime at a x1.5 rate too, my employer would have paid me £4,000 in the span of those 4 months.

 

I don't think there is a law that will require my employer to reimburse me for that overtime worked, but does anyone know if there is any case here given the fact that 30 guys on-site got paid for working those hours and I was the only one that didn't? I realise we held different positions but is there a case for discrimination?

[OneDrop]

Not AT LEAST until you can ascertain that the other employees had the same contract clause with respects of overtime payments? Do their contracts also say that overtime will be paid at the discretion of the Company?

 

 

Just for my own information why did you work the extra hours? Was it in the hope that you would be paid? Was there anything or anyone preventing you from downing tools at the contracted book off time?

[gnuscubadog]

I'm not sure about their contracts, I have asked the question to one of them. I worked that overtime in good faith. As the engineer/site manager, the overall running of the job was my responsibility. My employer overburdened me with work and did end up sending help about a month before I left the project (I have since handed in my notice due to the fact that our foreman had created a hostile work environment for me). I didn't try to avoid my duties as I faced the client on a daily basis and I was solely responsible for explaining any delays, etc. I never tried to just do the hours allocated to me because it would have meant that we would have gotten any more behind than we already were.

[OneDrop]

I sympathise. Employers do this deliberately (say they won't pay for extra labour but then create conditions that require extra labour) to get more out of you for less. The problem with proving discrimination is you need to first tie it to a protected characteristic and then show that compared to a colleague (or a hypothetical colleague) you are being singled out for ill treatment. A breach of contract case seems out of the question here given your earlier comments and so it would be imperative to find out if any of the others who were paid the overtime had that same clause before even considering further action. However, you said "over the summer" you did this work, so when would you have expected to receive that payment? There are strict time limits for bringing a case in the ET.

 

 

Are you claiming constructive dismissal too or just seeking the wages?

[renegadeimp]

If you work it, they gotta pay you for it. Are you salaried or hourly paid?

[BazzaS]

If you work it, they gotta pay you for it. Are you salaried or hourly paid?

 

Except that the OP is in a managerial role, and could be expected to perform that role within their contracted hours (or close to those), since the contract says “only paid for those hours”.

OP should have raised that they couldn’t achieve their task within the contracted hours, or re-negotiated for overtime.

[renegadeimp]

All depends on the exact wording of the contract. A lot of employers have peopel in managerial roles and still pay them overtime. Not with a clause that says theyll pay as and when they want. Or to that effect.

[ericsbrother]

you should have asked your employer the question BEFORE you did any of the extra work. I used to have a similar clause in my conract when I started work so when something came up that required doing at a weekends we simply stated that it was impossible to do any other time and woldnt get done if the hours werent paid as overtime.

My contract was later changed to one where it was stated that I did whatever was necessary to fulfil the role so no overtime pay, additional duties etc but on the plus side could take an afternoon off to play cricket if I felt like it.

so, now it is at their discretion and as half a year has passed you have either asked and been knocked back or they wont believe that it is really an issue.

[king12345]

Do you get any bonus during the year?

Managers do "free" overtime, but then they get a performance bonus in many jobs.

If you don't, i can't see them paying you because the contract is against that.