Working Bank holidays

soniason

My OH works for one of the large supermarkets as a delivery driver, he has worked for them for 3.5 yrs and has never worked a Monday, it is a contacted day off, along with Wednesday and Saturday, his manager has informed him that he mustnow work at least 3 bank holidays a year, can he be made to work BHs if it is his day off anyway.
Many thanks for any help.

jobbingmusician

If it's a contracted day off then no, I don't think they can. However, he will have to work every Good Friday, and every Christmas Day and Boxing Day if they are not on a Monday, to ensure that he does work 3 bank holidays per year when he can (the other regular BHs are all on Mondays). Personally, unless I had a regular Monday appointment doing something else, I would rather come to a compromise with the employer to work some BH Mondays than lose more than half of my Christmas Days with my family.

I also suspect that it might be legal for the employer to accept your OH's argument, agree that they cannot require him to work on BH Mondays, but then make his post redundant as the business needs of the organisation might well need someone who is not tied to working on Mondays and can thus cover more BHs. I do think negotiation is likely to be the way foward here, much as I despise the way that employers seem to be taking all possible opportunities to reduce T & C of their workers.

getmore4less

He could have said fine as long as they are on my contracted work days.

Probably best to keep quiet and just wait for them to try to change his rota so he works on a BH that is one of his days off.

If the contract already allows for overtime/flexable working on other days then there will be little he can do about it.

probably a good idea to check the holiday allocation is correct.

soniason

He has no objection to working BH, it is the fact that they are trying to change his contract to suit them, there are no deliveries on Xmas eve, day or Boxing day so the delivery staff have it all off, the store is closed completely on Xmas day, he works Good Friday and the sneeky one that are put in ie the Queens B/day this year without a qualm, but for them to demand he changes his days of on a set rota is ridiculous, we do not often do anytig on the Mondays but we know we can if we want to.
Thank for the replies.

Acc72

soniason wrote: »

My OH works for one of the large supermarkets as a delivery driver, he has worked for them for 3.5 yrs and has never worked a Monday, it is a contacted day off, along with Wednesday and Saturday, his manager has informed him that he mustnow work at least 3 bank holidays a year, can he be made to work BHs if it is his day off anyway.
Many thanks for any help.

When you say it is a contracted day off, do you mean that his contract of employment specifically states that he is not required to work Mondays, Wednesdays or Saturdays ?

I would be very surprised if this is the case - particularly as he works for a large supermarket.

It may be that his usual rota excludes these days and they are looking to change his rota - again, his contract of employment will have the answer (although again, a caveat of "work when necessary" or whatever clause will be the overriding factor).

ianders

I was under the impression that supermarket contracts were based on hours rather than days, i.e. you can have a contract for 24 hours per week, but not Tue, Wed, Thu 9-5. This then gives them the freedom to chop and change days and times to suit themselves.

soniason

His contract states Sun 4-10, Tues 7-3, Thurs 2-10, Fri 7-2. This is what he has worked for the past 3.5 yrs, I know companies can alter contracts, but surely not to this extent.

getmore4less

soniason wrote: »

His contract states Sun 4-10, Tues 7-3, Thurs 2-10, Fri 7-2. This is what he has worked for the past 3.5 yrs, I know companies can alter contracts, but surely not to this extent.

You need to check the rest of the contract for terms that overide the default hours.

Chances are there will be some.

He can say he does not agree with the changes to the current days/hours.

Then they need to follow the change of contract process giving notice to terminate this one and start a new one after consultation.


I think this will be considered a reasonable change by tribunal should it go that far.

DCFC79

ianders wrote: »

I was under the impression that supermarket contracts were based on hours rather than days, i.e. you can have a contract for 24 hours per week, but not Tue, Wed, Thu 9-5. This then gives them the freedom to chop and change days and times to suit themselves.

My contract for 1 of the big 4 defines which days i work and what times eg monday to thursday 6 till 10 but thats the department im part of, other staff say the shop floor guys/gals dont work a set pattern with days off etc.

soniason

Same here DCFC79, home shopping has different contracts to shop floor.

Butterfly_Brain

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/EmploymentContractsAndConditions/DG_10028079