work expects me to work through unpaid dinner hour

Zazen999

moneysavingexpert79 wrote: »

How have I misguided anyone? I would do exactly everything I have said on this post. The one post I have been corrected on I have acknowledged that I was incorrect and moved on.

Back to the original post - she is perfectly entitled to feel aggrieved. Personally, I would go sick for the day. Avoid all problems then. Whatever they have to say in this speech can be put in an email.

As I said, still happy to misguide people. Advising people to go off sick every time they don't like something is perhaps a bit of a cop out as:
a - they aren't sick [and thus now a liar]
b - they have already expressed dissatisfaction thus going off sick tends to mark them out and will grab their manager's attention.

Al24

I work clinically for the NHS and every Thursday I attend an hour long meeting which is held over my 1/2 unpaid lunch hour. Refreshments, sandwiches, drinks, crisps etc are supplied each week by different drug companies, although you can take your own food if you prefer and different speakers talk about interesing papers, patients and techniques. Although the meeting is voluntary, it is noted by management as to whom goes each week, my line manager writes down everyone's names (!). As I am currently publishing some research I presented one week. I put the presentation together in my own time.

The main difference I see is that I am on the first job of my career, and as such do not mind donating the time. In the same way I don't mind being in work and available at 7:55 and leaving at 4:15 when my official hours are 8-4.

If I were the OP I would be more concerned about the content of the meeting, and take my own food if I didn't want the food provided.

timmmers

looby-loo wrote: »

Success and failure is determined by effort.

You couldn't write that in a letter to the slimy boss that potted me after working 14 hours night shifts and an extra 1 or 2 hours every day for him...so he could give his cousin my job could you?

Oddly the tribunal thought he was waaay out of order...and this and cases just like it are why I would never put myself out for an employer ever again. It's a one way street.

You will never feel as stupid as the day you get the P45 after working your tripes off making them enough profit for that large Beemer, believe me.

BTW ..employment law isn't about tribunals ..it's there to be followed, a tribunal and enforcement is the very last resort. Bosses should heed the law just as we all follow criminal law, because we know it's right..not for fear of prosecution.

t

Bogof_Babe

If they were given the salient points in an email they would probably complain about that too, especially if their jobs are on the line.

Zazen999

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

If they were given the salient points in an email they would probably complain about that too, especially if their jobs are on the line.

Yeah - I received an email and had to read it in my own time! :eek:

I'm really interested in why/how some people seem to think that the employer has broken a law here.

Bogof_Babe

Zazen999 wrote: »

I'm really interested in why/how some people seem to think that the employer has broken a law here.

Quite. You'd think they were being kidnapped.

SueC_2

moneysavingexpert79 wrote: »

I would go sick for the day.

So, a day without any pay, as opposed to a day on full pay with lunch provided.

Good shout.

Quizzical_Squirrel

moneysavingexpert79 wrote: »

Personally, I would go sick for the day. Avoid all problems then. Whatever they have to say in this speech can be put in an email.

I despair of this advice.

Do you really think the employer won't guess that this is skiving? How stupid do you think people are? You actually think blatently demonstrating dishonesty is the best way to handle this storm-in-a-teacup situation?

OP, don't do this. It's stupid advice particularly in this economic climate - you could find that you're putting your head on the chopping block.

Just go, it's not going to be as bad as you think it is. Nothing ever is and the more you dwell on it, the bigger a problem you'll make it in your own mind. It's only one hour on one day.

Is there actually something else that's bothering you about this day out?

Money_Grabber13579

So it's an hour's pay you'll lose. That's how much? £6-7 max? How much do you save by not having to buy lunch? About £4 maybe? So you're thinking about going on strike over £2-3?:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

pinkkiss

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

So it's an hour's pay you'll lose. That's how much? £6-7 max? How much do you save by not having to buy lunch? About £4 maybe? So you're thinking about going on strike over £2-3?:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

i normally spend 70 - 80p on my dinner in the canteen ... chips and gravy. Do some people really spend £4 on their dinner everyday :eek:

And the speach was in no way about redundancies haha, it was a bragging speach about how well the companys doing, and how we've merged with another company which means more profits, jobs blah blah nothing useful

Anyway i got in this morning and the union rep said a few people had complained and the union were working on a solution .. we skipped our dinner today but the union are going to either request we get paid or leave a hour early another day .

To the people who said it was kicking up a fuss about nothing ...
There was no 'compromise' of giving us free dinner instead (i didnt even eat the sandwich in the end as they'd slathered mustard all over it and i cant stand mustard !) they put a note on our company intranet saying that is what was going to happen, didnt ask our opinion or agreement or anythin.

And the principle of it wasnt the money ... it was the fact that the company never relax about our working hours so why shuld we ..
if your 20 mins late in the morning, your made to work the 20 mins back at the end of the day...
but if your stuck on a call and leave 20 mins late at the end of the day you dont get the time back.
If we're 1 minute late logging back into our phones after a break its all noted in the late book ...
And them insisting i came in to work before the speach this morning. They wanted us to take calls until 8:15, then we could log out and go and catch the coach. I travelled a hour to take 15 minutes worth of calls! If i got a lift with my collegue, we wouldnt have to leave our homes until 9 o clock.

Maybe this is all fair enough, after all they're only expecting us to work the hours we agreed to when we accepted the job.
But then again, we're only expecting the breaks they agreed when we accepted the job.
It was never an issue before they decided we couldnt have our paid dinner hour.

This isnt the sort of company where missing your dinner is even appreciated, they only notice anything if we owe them time. Like somebody pointed out, i'm on a low wage and dont see why, if im available to work the hours ive agreed to, i should do what they want me to in my dinner hour too. it was their choice to send us on this speach, we didnt ask to go, so why should we sacrfice our hour for it

Thanks for the replies anyway, really wasnt expecting the thread to get this long !