Had double time taken away

tina08

Hello. Question about my boyfriend and I hope someone can help.
He worked Christmas day, New Years day and the bank holiday just gone.
He was told he was going to lose his double time, because he had a day off over Christmas (he was very ill) and he had to take a day off because there was no public transport and he couldn't get to work 1 day (the works transport was told not to go on the road to pick him up)

He has had his double time taken off him.
Is this legal?
The reason they gave him was, it's to stop people pulling sickies and still expecting double time!
he is a hard worker and really needed that money. He wouldn't have gone in if he knew they would do that to him.
Thanks for any advice

fablad75

Just to clarify: he managed to get in on all the double time days (Christmas Day, New Year's Day and Bank Holiday Monday), but wasn't able to get in on the three normal-time working days?

cazziebo

It's quite a usual condition of premium payments that the employee must work immediately before and after (if rostered on) to qualify for the payments.

tina08

it was 2 days he had to take off.
1 from illness and the other because he couldn't get into work, due to the snow. He was up and waiting for the bus, rang busline to be told there weren't any buses and work refused to pick him up (can't blame them, it was really bad)
The 3 double time days, work had to pick him up because there were no buses running due to the holidays.

He doesn't have his own transport.

tina08

really cazziebo? It isn't fair though. I can understand if people take lots of days off but he has worked really hard for this firm. He can't help being ill or the snow on the roads

Lady007

I suggest that he refers to his contract of employment to clarify this situation. If it says that he should be paid double time for those days then not to pay him may amount to unlawful deduction of wages.

foxy-roxy

we had this policy in a previous job of mine and they had done to a few people.
We did know about it though and it is to start the skivers unfortuantely genuine people get punished too.
Did your boyfriend know about this policy beforehand?

tina08

he didn't know about this rule, no. Another employer was told he was losing his double time (he had 1 day off) and passed on the news to my boyfriend.
He waited to get paid and saw it was taken off him then.

He is really fed up about it but has just been told, tough.
I told him to take it further if he can. If it's in his contract he can't do anything about it

He was doing them a favour by doing these days, as no one else wanted to do those shifts and he could have been home with his family over the holidays.
he won't do any extra time for them again now. It was A LOT of money he has lost

Thanks for the help

valos_mummy

I was going to say, any extra time they want him to do in future he should tell them tough kitties. And no more Christmas Day/ New Years Day either. Fair point, employers want to keep the slack workers from pulling sickies but this sort of thing usually just ends up screwing the genuine hard workers instead.

DVardysShadow

valos_mummy wrote: »

I was going to say, any extra time they want him to do in future he should tell them tough kitties. And no more Christmas Day/ New Years Day either. Fair point, employers want to keep the slack workers from pulling sickies but this sort of thing usually just ends up screwing the genuine hard workers instead.

I have to agree. If he worked them reluctantly, it is particularly galling to have the premium taken away. But if he had a reasonable expectation of being picked up by works transport and was let down, I do think he ishould be entitled to pay for those days -and not to be penalised for those days either.

rupee99

tina08 wrote: »

He is really fed up about it but has just been told, tough.
I told him to take it further if he can. If it's in his contract he can't do anything about it

I am afraid you have encapsulated it in those couple of lines, there is not anything he can do about it if its in his contract.

It may just be worth checking that it is and getting confirmation from the boss that it is strictly enforced (your boyfriend can claim he is being discriminated against if it is not) but if I were you I wouldn't hold out much hope.

EDIT The moral may be as others said, don't help them out next time.