Can you be sacked for not doing overtime?

princessdon

I'm certainly seeing a correllation between those who work hard, don't mind doing hours, see a bit of OT as par for the course and the salaries they acheive.

I wonder if that is luck???

Hmm now that would be thesis for a student. Is there a direct relationship between those on NMW or just above and those that have dreams, asperations and are prepared to work hard that end up in higher paid jobs?

My "job share" has NO qualifications - yet is in a £45K a year job - she didn't get there by moaning or leaving at 4.30 on the dot as she worked her way from a very junior position all those years ago!

LadyMissA

scooby088 wrote: »

Sorry not 15-20 hour week thats overtime she does a 40 hour basic week plus 15-20 hours overtime.

Sorry read that wrong then. He job then as she has been told has the overtime worked in but a lot of jobs do not.

scooby088

LadyMissA wrote: »

Sorry read that wrong then. He job then as she has been told has the overtime worked in but a lot of jobs do not.

Many salaried people it is expected of them to do unpaid overtime like if i was on 45k I'd almost feel obliged to do it, whereas being on NMW i'd be less inclined to do it unless i had a holiday to pay for.

LadyMissA

scooby088 wrote: »

Many salaried people it is expected of them to do unpaid overtime like if i was on 45k I'd almost feel obliged to do it, whereas being on NMW i'd be less inclined to do it unless i had a holiday to pay for.

If you are made to do unpaid overtime you need to ask some questions

Are we all doing it?
Why are we doing it?

Normally it will work out that the company want to save money therefore not taking on the one or two people (or more) extra they need to do the job. Either that or the person is not any good at their job and they do overtime to catch up.

Welshwoofs

scooby088 wrote: »

Just above it. My sister earns around 26k per year and she moaned that she wasn't paid for overtime, when she went to HR they told her it was part of her 26k per year as she was on staff and salaried.

Yup, but that doesn't mean they factored overtime into her salary. It means that she's paid to do a role and that her contract will almost certainly state that, within reason, she's required to do work outside her standard hours in order satisfy that role.

scooby088

LadyMissA wrote: »

If you are made to do unpaid overtime you need to ask some questions

Are we all doing it?
Why are we doing it?

Normally it will work out that the company want to save money therefore not taking on the one or two people (or more) extra they need to do the job. Either that or the person is not any good at their job and they do overtime to catch up.

The last place i worked introduced kaizen and lean manufacturing it was a more efficient way of working than just in time principle than we worked to before and the product went out the door quicker. But the workers were up in arms as the overtime stopped and those who did all the hours god sent found themselves struggling financially as they had got used to the overtime pay. The company were making the same amount of money but overtime was cut due to new working practices.

princessdon

scooby088 wrote: »

Many salaried people it is expected of them to do unpaid overtime like if i was on 45k I'd almost feel obliged to do it, whereas being on NMW i'd be less inclined to do it unless i had a holiday to pay for.

Very Very Very few people start a job on 45K. We all show willing, work our way up, do free hours and work ruddy hard.

Even if a graduate gets £30K and in my area they get approx £15 to start they in effect worked 30 hours a week for 4 years free and went without a salary (taking loans to repay)

Your comment Re unless you had a holiday speaks volumes to be honest and maybe why you are only getting NMW jobs.

Welshwoofs

LadyMissA wrote: »

Normally it will work out that the company want to save money therefore not taking on the one or two people (or more) extra they need to do the job. Either that or the person is not any good at their job and they do overtime to catch up.

The two you've stated are not the only reasons why companies don't pay over-time to salaried staff. For instance if you're higher up the food chain, you don't have 'tasks' so much as you're given autonomy of an area and expected to take your initative and manage that area. A company wouldn't hire two Finance Directors for instance, they'd hire one - pay them bloody well and expect them to a) build a team they can delegate some tasks to and b) put in extra hours as needed to perform their role.

It may also not be practical to just take on extra staff - for instance if a company is pitching for a big new contract there may well be an awful lot of extra work that goes into that pitch and they can't simply bring in new staff to do it because a) there's a time constraint and they may not be able to train people up that quickly and b) they may not get the contract anyway, in which case they don't need more staff.

Breezay

In short, yes, you can be sacked for not doing overtime. I was fired from my last job & wasn't even given a reason. I phoned ACAS, who told me that within the first year, you can be fired for pretty much anything! I don't know whether it was the fact that I would only do overtime half of the time I was asked (I was always asked 30 minutes before I was due to finish & had commitments at home, or someone picking me up - who would have already left at this point) or because I wouldn't do the picking in the warehouse. I was hired as Admin & didn't mind grabbing the odd thing, but I'd seen people from Admin be asked to help with picking, only to end up doing that as their job. I didn't want that. In the end, I was fired for an 'unresolvable issue' but they never elaborated on that.

I got the job because the company was putting the previous Admin through accounting training.. He finished the first course, but then the finding for that stopped & he wanted his job back.. He ended up in the warehouse because I wouldn't go in there. It was all very messy.

I'd be very careful. Make the most of the money that you're getting in from this job & good luck with the job search.

LadyMissA

Welshwoofs wrote: »

The two you've stated are not the only reasons why companies don't pay over-time to salaried staff. For instance if you're higher up the food chain, you don't have 'tasks' so much as you're given autonomy of an area and expected to take your initative and manage that area. A company wouldn't hire two Finance Directors for instance, they'd hire one - pay them bloody well and expect them to a) build a team they can delegate some tasks to and b) put in extra hours as needed to perform their role.

It may also not be practical to just take on extra staff - for instance if a company is pitching for a big new contract there may well be an awful lot of extra work that goes into that pitch and they can't simply bring in new staff to do it because a) there's a time constraint and they may not be able to train people up that quickly and b) they may not get the contract anyway, in which case they don't need more staff.

My friend works in accounts for a magazine company and he has done overtime like everyone in accounts since the day he started. They have too much work and not enough people to do it so in this instance its the tight company.