Prison officer issues at work

milliemonster

My oh is a Prison officer and is having some issues at work. He generally works 3 long shifts a week along with most of the other officers, it seems the governors don't like the staff only being in 3 days a week and want them in 5 days, their contract only states how many hours a week they should work, not days, so, the governors have changed their shift lengths so their long days now start at 7.30am and finish at 9.30pm, effectively 14 hours. I have told oh that this contravenes the working time directive not only for the length of shift but also not enough hours between the end of the day shift and the start of the next day shift (if he does 2 days in a row) but he tells me that prison officers are exempt from the WTD, is this right?, they have only extended the day shift to try to get the officers off the long shifts and onto the shorter ones so they are in 5 days a week.

The other query I have is over their annual leave, he gets 7 weeks a year (as has to work bank hols) but so far this year has been unable to take any due to being refused each time he has made a request, the reasons being staff shortages, already people being off on leave etc (I think they are only allowed 2 members of staff off at a time), he can only carry over 1 week into the next financial year (next April) but how does he stand if he keeps getting his leave requests refused?

chilli_dog

is your oh in a union a all?

Conor_3

Can't find anything showing they're exempt on the Govt website.

ohreally

He should raise his concerns with the POA, although i'd be a little surprised if they are not already involved as it sounds like all the officers will have similar concerns.

milliemonster

yes he is in the POA but to be honest they're useless, they says all the right things but nothing ever seems to change

Savvy_Sue

WRT the leave, if it were me I'd be saying "OK, you tell ME when I CAN take my leave." And booking it there and then ...

Incisor

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

WRT the leave, if it were me I'd be saying "OK, you tell ME when I CAN take my leave." And booking it there and then ...

I would start by telling them in writing when I was taking leave, with 3 months notice, expecting agreement within 7 days. After that, I would then give them the option of giving dates or accepting the ones I had given.

milliemonster

unfortunately, the rules are that they can only ask for leave up to 28 days in advance now which is what is causing the problem as its always getting refused

ticmike

Hi,
A little of topic here, but i wonder if your OH would mind giving me the low down on life as a P.O.
Im between jobs at the minute with the closure of my own biz and really do fancy the P.O job.
I know when you ask people usually about there work they say they hate it etc.. same with everyone, but i dont mind long shifts etc..
Any info would be good and very much appreicated.:j

liney

I am confused. You say your husband works 3 long shifts, but they now want him to work 5 days from 7.30am to 9.30pm instead of his 3 long shifts? Whilst these hours do indeed go against the working time regulations, surely the ones he has been working allowing him to only work 3 days a week do too. So pulling up 'but it's against the WTR' just because he only wants to work 3 days not 5 seems erm, abit hypicritical. Correct me if this is not what you are saying though? How long were his 'long' shifts?

Here's a link to the WTR rules anyway. http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1373

milliemonster

Liney - my husbands long shifts used to be 7.30 until 8pm and he worked 3 days a week, slowly the governors have increased the shift length to finish at 9.30pm instead of what used to be 8pm in an attempt to get the officers off these long shifts and in 5 days a week on a 7.30 - 5pm shift instead (or 1pm - 9.30pm), basically it boils down to the fact that the governors don't like the fact that the officers have 4 days off a week because they have to be in 5 days a week themselves (one openly admitted this to my husband)

My point is, they all do a mixture of different shifts which are as follows:

Early - 7.30 - 1pm
Late - 1.30 - 9.30pm
A - 7.30 - 9.30pm
Main - 7.30 - 5pm
Nights - 8pm - 8am

but most of the officers prefer to do the A shifts and get their hours in so they have to go into work less days, all these shifts used to finish at 8pm but have all been increased now to 9.30pm, most of the officers are accruing hours each week because of this (which they never get to take back), my husband is currently 80hours owed to him but even if he does a 3 shift week, he is told he needs to work an extra shift cos he's not in work often enough, how can they do this when they owe him hours and his 3 A shifts equate to 42 hours (he is only contracted for 40 hours a week)