:mad: They don't pay overtime and it cant take it as time off.DO WE WORK FOR FREE?

galastur

SarEl wrote: »

And which UK have you been living in? Sorry, but not being fascetious here - there is far far worse than a bit of unpaid overtime, and there always has been. And I am not talking about the exceptions. You are really lucky if in yiour "professional job" you haven't ever come across it - because it happens with all types of employers and all types of jobs and at all types of levels. You really are very fortunate if you think that this is an example of poor employment, and I hope you never come across any worse. I have, every day of my working life. Victorian England never went away - it just got a bit cosier.

Quite a bit around the country I will say (Edinburgh, Glasgow,High Wycombe and now London), and while I was studying I was working in low paid jobs (around 10 years ago) and was never asked to work for free!

Wellery82

I'd hazard a guess that on average in my working life i've done maybe 15 hours unpaid overtime a week, which has just been the culture where i have worked. I am in an office job so it is different, but my general take on this situation is -

if you are going to do the overtime then do it with a smile on your face and a can do attitude. There is no point in doing it whilse sulking - you have the hassle without even the possible goodwill caused by it! Use the fact you are working over the hours to be noticed. Use it to ask for a chat with your manager about what you can demonstrate to move up into another position. Use these chats to get a feel on whether you are being taken for a ride, and if you are then raise it/look elsewhere

galastur

Gillyx wrote: »

I've worked in a supermarket in a variety of different positions including a team leader type position and always had to work extra, it was a case of getting the work done, some times if it had been a busy day, you would be running an hour behind but it was expected you'd do it. It's the type of environment where x amount of things need to be done in a day, it's not like the work can roll over to the next as it starts all over again. I got paid a lot less than £7.20 as well, sometimes you have to suck it up.

...the problem is that her days are always busy, she never takes her breaks because there is always things to do, if rather than having 5 people as needed you have 3!

you can't stretch people all the time...or one day they will break...but wait...who cares while it is not me, right?

custardy

galastur wrote: »

Quite a bit around the country I will say (Edinburgh, Glasgow,High Wycombe and now London), and while I was studying I was working in low paid jobs (around 10 years ago) and was never asked to work for free!

its not so much location as sector
I worked for years as a chef and a 40 hr week is a pipe dream
the phrase "hours as required" is the bottom line

galastur

Jimavfc82 wrote: »

I'd hazard a guess that on average in my working life i've done maybe 15 hours unpaid overtime a week, which has just been the culture where i have worked. I am in an office job so it is different, but my general take on this situation is -

I totally understand that. I have a 'salary' too and I work overtime.

But I think it is ludicrous when you have an hourly paid employee and you expected to work for free. I think that this situation should be regulated. Especially for people earning little money. Companies should not be allowed to get away with these things, even less when we are talking about a 'big boy'...this is not a small company struggling to be afloat, this is a big player which keeps increasing it is profits

Pupnik

patman99 wrote: »

One thing, how come Aldi can pay £8.00 p/h minimum, yet 'S', 'T' and 'A' can only manage £6.13 ?.

Aldi, and I believe Lidl too, hire people who act as if they are self employed so have to sort their own contributions and I don't think they get paid holiday either- or at least that is what I have heard.


When I was paid by the hour I always filled in a timesheet with my hours to the nearest 15 minutes and would never work for free, but when I am on a salary and I feel my pay is fair I am happy to put in extra time if needs be. Where I work at the moment overtime is only given to people who earn less than a certain amount (£17,000 I think) and if you earn above that it is unpaid. I think this is fairly reasonable, I would certainly hate for the lowest paid people to be taken advantage of, but some of the top brass could easily afford the extra 'free' time they put in. Of course I am in the squeezed middle but usually if I have to work late or through my lunchbreak I make a note to owe myself that time and take an extra long break or go home early on a quiet day.

ceridwen

SarEl wrote: »

Actually, unpaid overtime is legal provided that the hours worked does not reduce the pay below the NMW. And such overtime can be contractual. So before she says no she does need to check her contract to ensure that there isn't such a condition.

But wouldnt it be the case that "Yep...the employer can say overtime is contractual" (depending on what the contract says) - BUT the employer would have to pay for said overtime if they want it.

I understand where OP is coming from when they say that the job is paid hourly - ie implication is that she is treated exactly the same as other shopfloor workers - ie "If management want overtime - then they must pay for it".

ceridwen

galastur wrote: »

I totally understand that. I have a 'salary' too and I work overtime.

But I think it is ludicrous when you have an hourly paid employee and you expected to work for free. I think that this situation should be regulated. Especially for people earning little money. Companies should not be allowed to get away with these things, even less when we are talking about a 'big boy'...this is not a small company struggling to be afloat, this is a big player which keeps increasing it is profits

Crikey - must admit to reading this thinking "Well - it isnt the case that everyone is expected to work for free - I've never ever done any unpaid overtime or even been asked to. Paid overtime has always been a totally voluntary thing too - as, if a request got put out for volunteers for overtime, you agreed if you wanted it (and might or might not get given some overtime - dependant on how many other people wanted some as well)" and I've been working for donkeys years now:( <tired smilie>

Will now toddle off for the day wondering whether I would be deemed to be "lucky" by many or it boils down to the fact that its always been obvious from my attitude that I absolutely KNOW (<I have confidence> smilie) that my leisuretime is my leisuretime and the thought wouldnt even cross my mind of anyone expecting to force me to give any of it up....hmmm.....I shall certainly be wondering about that now...

teajug

A friend of mine used to work in a supermarket and when they needed to get rid of staff a couple of years ago they watched people that used to be a couple of minutes late on floor and after warning they were sacked. I was told that employers were told that if they were a couple of minutes late they told that they were stealing from the employer. I understand now that this very large company nearly always leave their employees short in their salaries each month especially new temporary young staff and it would take months for HR to sort it out for them if ever as they company only keeps records up to 3 months.

The company had no problems telling low paid staff that they were stealing from them if they were a couple of minutes late on floor. What employers are doing nowto employees is far worse are they not stealing from them…

Gillyx

galastur wrote: »

...the problem is that her days are always busy, she never takes her breaks because there is always things to do, if rather than having 5 people as needed you have 3!

you can't stretch people all the time...or one day they will break...but wait...who cares while it is not me, right?

That's supermarket environment for you, I probably got the equivalent of 2 lunch breaks on a normal 5 day working week, as well as working late at the end of my shift. I was told to "take my time back" but in reality it was never possible.

A common occurrence for me was to have 2 or 3 tills open at 6 o clock at night, which for a large store isn't really feasible, and would have customers screaming in my face for a whole 9 hour shift sometimes.

The best thing for your partner to do in my opinion is speak to HR about it, if they aren't willing to accommodate her, is there any chance she can step down so to speak, and go back to having no responsibility that way she could leave at the end of her shift, and would be entitled to her breaks.