Advice needed, re: Sunday working

tom222

Hi all, I currently work in a supermarket as an in-store baker so as far as I can tell, I have the right to opt out of working on Sundays.

Now, as far as my actual contract goes, I work Tuesday - Saturday, no mention of Sunday working. But where I work, there are only 4 of us, so we generally switch our days off, meaning I do occasionally work a Sunday.

Can anybody please shed some light on where I stand in terms of opting out? Can I simply tell them I don't want to work on a Sunday anymore or do I still have to give the required three months notice? If so, can somebody please provide me with an idea of what to write?

Thanks!

Voltaire7

Does your contract not have a line like "plus any other duties to suit the needs of the business"?

tom222

Voltaire7 wrote: »

Does your contract not have a line like "plus any other duties to suit the needs of the business"?

Not sure, but I work in a shop. So going by the direct.gov site, I am totally within my right to opt out, no?

All shop and betting shop workers can opt out of Sunday working unless Sunday is the only day they have been employed to work on.

An employee can opt out of Sunday working at any time, even if they have agreed to work on Sundays in their contract.

https://www.gov.uk/sunday-working

Takeaway_Addict

I would suspect you could just refuse but considering this is likely to pee off your colleagues alot you might want to give the 3 months notice and work on the same premise before then.

You do realise your colleagues are going to have to pick the slack up right?

alun4

Would the shop be viable if you didn't all share the Sunday work?

tom222

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

I would suspect you could just refuse but considering this is likely to pee off your colleagues alot you might want to give the 3 months notice and work on the same premise before then.

You do realise your colleagues are going to have to pick the slack up right?

Sundays are a quiet day for us, we're normally finished by 11am. I understand my colleagues will have to pick up the slack, yes. But I don't wish to work Sundays any longer and if I'm within my right to do that then I'm certainly going to.

alun4 wrote: »

Would the shop be viable if you didn't all share the Sunday work?

Yes, it's not a huge deal really. I more just need help with an opt-out letter if I need to write one as I can't find any templates online and I don't know if it has to be in a specific format or anything.

specialboy

Did you get any information about opting out of Sunday working off your employer?

An employer who needs staff to work on Sundays must tell them in writing that they can opt out. They must do this within 2 months of the person starting work - if they don’t, only 1 month’s notice is needed to opt out.

tom222

specialboy wrote: »

Did you get any information about opting out of Sunday working off your employer?

An employer who needs staff to work on Sundays must tell them in writing that they can opt out. They must do this within 2 months of the person starting work - if they don’t, only 1 month’s notice is needed to opt out.

I started working for my employer nearly six years ago now, so I really don't know. I'm 99% certain I didn't though. Am I right in saying they have to tell you about that right after you're contratced to work Sundays? Because I was contracted Sundays for a brief spell on a different department some time ago, where I'm certain I wouldn't have received this. But when I first started I wasn't required on Sundays.

custardy

So the occasional working a Sunday till 11am.
Now the other 3 required to cover even more Sundays. nice

tom222

custardy wrote: »

So the occasional working a Sunday till 11am.
Now the other 3 required to cover even more Sundays. nice

Sorry, but why should I not enforce my rights if I don't wish to work Sundays? The other three could do exactly the same if they wanted to.

Southend1

custardy wrote: »

So the occasional working a Sunday till 11am.
Now the other 3 required to cover even more Sundays. nice

Or the employer will hire someone to cover those hours. OP shouldn't base his decision to exercise a legal right on whether the employer or his colleagues might try to make him feel guilty about it. If he has a right to opt out and chooses to exercise that right there's nothing wrong with that.