Bank Holidays forced to work when not contracted?

jamesyboy007

Hi all just after a little advice. I work for Asda and i'm contracted to 28 hours. My contract states that i'm required to work all bank holidays if needed. I'm contracted to Mondays so i expect to work bank holiday Mondays. I'm not contracted to work Fridays, its my day off as i work Saturdays.

I've just viewed my rota today and they've put me in for 7 hours on Good Friday. I've told them i don't want to work it and as i'm not contracted to Fridays, i'm under no obligation to work it. They are saying that as it states in my contract that i may be required to work all bank holidays that i am obliged to work it.

Anyone know the legal position on this? Surely they can't force me to work on a day i'm not contracted to, bank holiday or not? They haven't even offered me another day off so this will take my hours that week to 35 when i'm only contracted to 28.

Any advice much appreciated.

KiKi

jamesyboy007 wrote: »

Hi all just after a little advice. I work for Asda and i'm contracted to 28 hours. My contract states that i'm required to work all bank holidays if needed. I'm contracted to Mondays so i expect to work bank holiday Mondays. I'm not contracted to work Fridays, its my day off as i work Saturdays.

I've just viewed my rota today and they've put me in for 7 hours on Good Friday. I've told them i don't want to work it and as i'm not contracted to Fridays, i'm under no obligation to work it. They are saying that as it states in my contract that i may be required to work all bank holidays that i am obliged to work it.

Anyone know the legal position on this? Surely they can't force me to work on a day i'm not contracted to, bank holiday or not? They haven't even offered me another day off so this will take my hours that week to 35 when i'm only contracted to 28.

Any advice much appreciated.

It depends on the wording of your contract, but if it states that you are required to work all bank holidays if required, then I'd take that as ALL bank holidays if required.

Perhaps you could paste the actual wording on here.

KiKi

Takeaway_Addict

You quite clearly are contracted to work all bank holidays if required.

jamesyboy007

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

You quite clearly are contracted to work all bank holidays if required.

But i'm not contracted to work Fridays. I get Friday off because i work Saturday. Asda have a habit of saying things in the contract that can't be enforced legally thats why i doubting that they can force to me to work it. My contract is 28 hours a week, can they force me to work 35?

Voltaire7

What days are you contracted to work? And does your contract specifically state your work week is 28 hours?

jamesyboy007

Here's what it says in the Colleague Handbook (there's much debate about the handbook. The Union says that when we sign for it we're signing to say we've received it, Asda say we're signing to say we'll abide by it) -

"Any Colleague who became employed by Asda after 23rd January 2011 may be required to work on as many Customary Holidays as deemed necessary by Asda, irrespective of whether the Customary Holidays fall on days when the colleague would normally be working for Asda or is otherwise contracted to work for Asda."

So by that they do think they have the right to force me to work. My question is, is that legal? Like i said they have a habit of telling us things that aren't true. For example the handbook says we're only allowed 5 days emergency leave a year which is utter rubbish, legally there's no upper limit.

jamesyboy007

Voltaire7 wrote: »

What days are you contracted to work? And does your contract specifically state your work week is 28 hours?

I'm contracted to Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and yes my contract states i'm employed for 28 hours a week.

Andy_L

jamesyboy007 wrote: »

Here's what it says in the Colleague Handbook (there's much debate about the handbook. The Union says that when we sign for it we're signing to say we've received it, Asda say we're signing to say we'll abide by it) -

its irrelevant which it is. They have published the T&Cs and, by continuing to work there and not complaining, you are deemed to have accepted them

galante_inc

If they decide to change it to suit due to not having enough cover then it needs to be looked at from 2 points

Firstly if your contract states that your obliged to work bank holidays this generally means the ones that fall on the days of your contracted to work...
If it states all bank holidays there is very little you can do about this but at the same time if you're only contracted to work 28hrs then technically they can only ask you to work additional under mutual agreement, but in the wonderful world of employment they will always use phrases like, your contract states overtime as and when required....

From my experience of supermarkets shifts, well I was glad to get out of that, seemed to be a rule for one and a rule for everyone else.

jamesyboy007

Andy_L wrote: »

its irrelevant which it is. They have published the T&Cs and, by continuing to work there and not complaining, you are deemed to have accepted them

Even if some of what it says isn't legal in employment law?

duchy

I'd read that as yes they can
If you refuse you could be disciplined and even fired.
If you feel that would be unfair dismissal (and have been in the job for more than two years) you could fight it -if you have a couple of grand spare to take it to a tribunal.

I tend to work bank holidays anyway so don't really understand what the fuss about working them is though. Just one of the facts of life if you choose to work in a public facing job rather than an office job. In many ways I prefer time off in the week when everywhere isn't so busy.