Can they change my hours/sack me?

mosmof

I am a 17 year old college student (18 Tuesday), working one day a week at a well known supermarket for a year now.

Today I was told my hours are being changed to meet 'the needs of the business'. I currently work 8am - 1pm on a Sunday, but they are being changed to Saturday 7pm - 12am. On Sundays I get time and a half and they said I'd keep this premium. I said what if I said no, they said they would give me four weeks notice to leave.

I dont want to work late on Saturday nights (they can only keep me so late because of my birthday being so soon!).

I've said about getting a transfer to checkouts (to which they said come in sometime tomorrow) and if that fails a move to the bigger store down the road with the same hours + date (which I'd accept).

Is there anything I can do to keep my 8am - 1pm shift?

Thank you for your time

Klug

Hi
I think you work for the same company I do!! Sounds so familiar! It's a process happening across the whole company and loads of workers are being forced to change their hours unwillingly, or go (loads of others will want your job). There is little you can do I think except try and make a compromise with them (if they will listen). At our store, it is causing a lot of unhappiness.
Good luck

bluenoseam

depends on the wording of your contract i'd guess - if it says "your hours of employment are Sunday 8am-1pm" with no further reference to changes based on the needs of the business then no, probably not if you have been there for over a year. However if your contract states "X hours per week" i think they can change your hours to what suits them - gotta remember that you're there to assist the business, not the other way around, just because they've given you these hours so far does not mean they HAVE to continue doing so unless you're specifically contracted for them. I'd speak to someone who's a specialist in these things, but i'm gonna suggest that as a part timer on a small time contract you'll find the words "as & when required" or some other fancy way of saying "suck it up & do as you're told!" somewhere in your contract. Getting rid of you won't be "easy" if you're more than a year, but lets be fair, it's not unheard of it happening and in this day & age, your job has over 1,000 people who want it & don't mind working late Saturday nights.

hyperfunk_d

I def agree with the last poster.

When I worked for the biggest supermarket chain (quite some years ago now admittedly) I was scheduled to work two shifts totalling 15 hours p/w, but they then changed it to 3 shifts of 5 hours and also changed the days I worked, so I had to then work both Friday and Saturday night until 10pm (really not ideal when you are around the age of 18!), but when I questioned it they showed me that I had signed a contract to say I would work 15 hours per week when required (or words to that effect) and any overtime if needed.

These companies cover all bases when it comes to being able to screw you over - a sad but true fact.

Hope you can sort something though - good luck :-)

ceridwen

Don't know the legal position here - but just wanted to wish you luck. There is a world of difference between working Sunday morning on the one hand or Saturday evening on the other hand.

I should think they would keep the "premium" too - as, after all, 10pm onwards is when people start going to bed for the night if they wish to (and they expect you to do 2 hours of "night work" then as part of this).

At your age - chances are you expect to have Saturday evening for going out socialising - and they will know that. Either way - you lose - as in you would lose the main "social" night of the week at your age/someone my age would lose a couple of hours sleep they would otherwise have had.

One question you don't seem to have asked them is "HOW LONG do I keep my premium payments for?". My suspicion is that, when they said "You will keep your premium payments", they deliberately didnt add the rest of the sentence - ie "...but only for x weeks though". I would not be at all surprised if they only intend to keep paying those premium payments for a matter of weeks or a few months at most. So - if you find you have no option but to swop hours and you decide to keep the job anyway - then get them "tied down" to a written confirmation as to those premium payments continuing indefinitely if you possibly can.

My guess overall (particularly in view of the other posters' comment) is that the firm is deliberately "shaking up the hours" of as many people as they possibly can/will try NOT to commit as to how long the premium payments will continue and their overall reason for doing this is the growing trend for shops to abolish premium payments if they possibly can. That is - they are, quite possibly, doing this to a lot of you precisely in order to have an excuse to remove premium payments from any of you.

I think the firm intends that the following will happen:
- the existing staff will refuse to put up with changed hours and resign. The firm then replaces them with new staff (and the new staff DON'T get premium payments)
OR
- as regards those existing staff that determinedly stay put - then the firm quite likely intends to find an excuse to remove premium payments when they see the chance anyway.

Either way - the firm has succeeded in stopping those premium payments.

x.x.x.

Happy Birthday for Tuesday! At the supermarket i work at, there is a clause in the contract , something along the lines of hours may be changed to suit the needs of the business.. check to see if it says anything similar in any of your contract/ paperwork

chubsta

I would be very surprised to find they COULDNT do it - i work in the civil service and our shifts are having a wholesale change in April, seems to happen once a year - the start and finish times are changing, the length of the shifts, the number of days per month we have to come in, everything. It is also changing so that they can tell us befor we go home when they next want us in, so the roster we are given is pretty meaningless anyway.

The complaints are being met with - if you dont like it get a job somewhere else. The Unions say there is nothing that can be done so we just have to put up with it, as we have done every other year.

So, basically, i think you will just have to put up with it unless you can find someone else who is willing to swap the allotted shifts...

liney

Retail contracts will cover all bases in regards to hours and flexibility because that's what the company need.

The fact that your change of hours coincide with your 18th birthday does imply that your shifts may have been a little more 'cherry picked' than others, and now it's time to share the less popular shifts.

bendix

Of course they can do it. Companies like this don't do these things without knowing employment law. If they are doing it, you can rest assured the law is on their side.

Dory68

Sounds like i too work for the same company,it has happened all over our store,even making day staff into night staff,which includes 10pm starts and 6.30am finish ,just seems they have to give you some sort of notice,think it was 28 days for some :mad: Guess as other posters have said its our way or the high way.

Oldernotwiser

ceridwen wrote: »

At your age - chances are you expect to have Saturday evening for going out socialising - and they will know that. Either way - you lose - as in you would lose the main "social" night of the week at your age/someone my age would lose a couple of hours sleep they would otherwise have had.

Actually, many young people's socialising doesn't start until midnight and anyway, you can't do a lot on a Saturday night if you have to start work at 0800!

(Nothing to do with the legal situation - just a comment.)