legal to be kept past working hours without pay?

Inexplicable

Hi everyone,

I work part-time in retail, getting paid on an hourly rate, i do a 6pm-10pm shift on a weekly basis, however quite often i am not able to leave work till at least 10:30pm and even occasionally 11pm without being paid for the extra hour, is it legal for an employer to do this constantly? if not what should i do about the situation, as this happens to many of the other workers also who have been there alot longer than i have (i've only been there a few months). We all feel this is unfair but do not speak up through fear of losing our jobs.

Please advise =]

foxxymynx

If you all walk out at the end of your shift every time, they'll have to do something. It's unlikely that they'll terminate everyones employment and be happy to train a whole new team and still not fix the issue.

Voices are louder in numbers and shy bairns get nowt.

paulwf

This issue crops up fairly regularly on here. It is common for good employers to pay a couple of people after the shop shuts for 15-30 mins as not all closing procedures can be done whilst customers are in the store. As Sue also points out though, it may be the shift leader isn't structuring things properly so tasks aren't done in time. It is probably a mix of the two.

The everybody leaving on time approach would be very confrontational, how about writing a letter and everyone signing it outlining how you feel? It might not have the same impact but will get the point across and give the manager time to sort things out before taking more drastic measures.

McKneff

You are not saying why you are not able to leave at 10pm.

Inexplicable

hi,

Thanks for your advice so far. Regarding of why i am unable to leave at 10pm, the store closes at 9pm, the last hour is allocated to fixing up the look and presentation or 'standards' of the store and also to bring in the delivery stock for the night shift workers to process, more often than not other workers who finish earlier do not do their part of the work and leave the store in a mess, so my shift is left to clean up the mess on top of bringing in loads of stock. A usual night of delivery would involve bringing in 10-15 cages worth of stock, where we would finish about 15-20 minutes later than usual. However quite frequently we would get at least double that with the same number of workers, meaning it takes alot longer to get through than normal and we are stuck there for the extra 45 minutes at least. Surely we should not be made to do this extra work unpaid due to their poor management skills?
This is also a flagship store and therefore management standards there are expected to be top-notch, but behind the lines are very poor.

joolsybools

Poor management. Do the letter or speak up for yourselves.

janninew

Hi OP

I use to work for a gym who did this. The gym would close at 10.00pm and we would officially end our shift at 10.00pm!! Most nights we would be there until at least 10.30pm. There is no way we could have done everything before 10.00pm, like cleaning the changing rooms after the last customer had left, putting weights away and shutting down the swimming pools, it was impossible! I think its a rather sneaky way of making you work extra for no more money, all the staff use to resent this as we were only get the minimum wage anyway! I wouldn't have minded working until 10.30 if i were getting paid for it! If you were on the early shift you also had to be in work 15 mins before your shift started, i know a few people who were disciplined for arriving at 6.30am (when they get paid from!) as we were told we must be here at 6.15am, so effectively doing 15 minutes free work for them.
Not really sure what you can do about it though doesn't seem very fair at all.

Maybe write to Head Office if there is one or the HR department.