agreed overtime pay rates

*Rainbow*Warrior*

Just a quick query. Where I work they have offered overtime at double time for the last few months. The offer has been communicated via email. Some of us booked overtime for July on the assumption this was still in force.

When I turned in for work on 1st July I was told by my colleagues that the overtime was just to be at normal pay rates. This had apparently been decided on the Friday before but I wasn't in the office so hadn't been told. There has been no official communication about this, just word of mouth. No-one has been allowed to cancel any overtime they booked when they thought it was still double time.

It seems morally wrong to me that they can change the rules without telling us. I just want a bit of input on what people think, whether it's ok for them to do this, or do we have grounds to complain?

ohreally

The OT was agreed on the basis of X2 time, they have unilaterally taken the decision to renege on the agreement (having a discussion with others is not relevant) therefore a reasonable person would conclude the ball is up on the slates as far as your on-going commitment is concerned.

Inform them you expect the agreement to be upheld or your interest in continuing with the OT is cooling off somewhat.

I assume the OT isn't contractual in some way?

InsideInsurance

What does your contract actually state about overtime? What was the exact wording of the email saying about double time?

Acc72

InsideInsurance wrote: »

What does your contract actually state about overtime? What was the exact wording of the email saying about double time?

This - before you say/do anything else (particularly if you have been with your employer for less than one year).

eg. your contract may say that overtime is paid at single rate and the management decided that for a limited period to get over a particular busy period they would offer an enhanced rate to encourage volunteers.

*Rainbow*Warrior*

No, the overtime isn't contractual. They are short staffed and sent an email round asking people to work overtime, saying it would be double time. The overtime was available pretty much whenever we wanted to work in May and June. There has been no email saying this has stopped, but there was another email last week saying it's double time again!

However, that means the overtime I've worked for most of July will be paid at my contracted rate (ie normal time). I think that's fair enough IF they had told us in advance and IF we were then given the chance to cancel it. One staff member had booked quite a bit of overtime for July and has not been allowed to cancel it even though she has asked.

Personally, I've only worked about 15 hours in July that 'should' have been at double time so it's not a great financial loss to me - but I do feel cheated as I wouldn't have agreed to work it if I'd know it wasn't being paid as overtime.

I have sent an email to HR but wanted some advice to back up my case as I don't really expect them to take much notice of me. From experience in the past, they tend to rely on stuff they've hidden away on the company 'intranet'. I had a query about a year ago regarding sickness and they went by this hidden info (that I couldn't locate even when they had advised me to go and look for it) and not what was in my contract.

That said, I think since they notified us overtime was double time via email, then it's reasonable to assume they would use email to communicate the fact that it's no longer double time - not word of mouth. Plus I think we should have been given the opportunity to cancel it as we agreed to do it on the basis it was double time.

InsideInsurance

The key is EXACT wording

From what you are saying at the moment your contract gives you just single time and you were told in May and June you'd get double but your overtime was done in July and so correctly would be single time.

Unless you are wanting more accurate advice you need to give a more accurate account of the wording... obviously it is very different if it said "until further notice" or such

*Rainbow*Warrior*

Acc72 wrote: »

This - before you say/do anything else (particularly if you have been with your employer for less than one year).

eg. your contract may say that overtime is paid at single rate and the management decided that for a limited period to get over a particular busy period they would offer an enhanced rate to encourage volunteers.

Yes, that's correct. What I'm saying is that they should have told us when this offer ended. The fact that they have still sent no official communication about this makes me feel that the offer is/should be still in force. It's not on to agree to do overtime when the understanding is that it's double time, then turn up to work the shift and be told on the day that actually it's no longer overtime.

I've been there more than a year.

*Rainbow*Warrior*

InsideInsurance wrote: »

The key is EXACT wording

From what you are saying at the moment your contract gives you just single time and you were told in May and June you'd get double but your overtime was done in July and so correctly would be single time.

Unless you are wanting more accurate advice you need to give a more accurate account of the wording... obviously it is very different if it said "until further notice" or such

I'm at home at the moment so I don't have access to the email. It didn't specifically say it was for May and June, nor did it say until further notice. It was basically just, come on we need people to do overtime, just book it in, it's double time. And that was the situation for 2 months so we had no reason to think it was about to change.