Excessive Hours. Please help!

dommy27

Hi there.

I wondered if someone can help or advise please.....

I've been employed by my current employer for over 2 years now. My employer is a well known large organisation employing thousands of people across the country, and I am based at their head office. The department I work in has always had a notoriously bad reputation internally and every year it seems to get worse with a very high staff turnover. In the time I've been there, there's been probably around 40-45 people leave (our team at full capacity is around 15). When previous people have raised this with HR, nothing ever seems to get done.

Twice a year we enter our 'busy' period and things really get bad, but this period we're going through is especially bad. My contract hours are 9-5, Monday to Friday, but to get on top of work I've been getting in between 7-7.30 everyday and leaving around 6pm. There are others in the team who don't come in that early but leave well after 7 or 8 each day. Recently our manager (who isn't particular empathetic or friendly) has effectively forced us to work weekends, and after already work 50-60 hour weeks, working weekends has literally knackered us completely out.

I may just add that all the extra hours and weekend work we do are not given back to us, nor are we financially rewarded. The salary I'm on at present is very low compared to the average at my level in the company, and at no point in my contract or anyone else in the team does it say about excessive working hours. We have all been threatened that if we do not work weekends, then we have all failed at our jobs. I'm addition to this, I feel dreadful health wise from working long hours and this has also caused arguments with my family for working long hours.

As I write this message now I am dreading going into work tomorrow and the time has come to take action.

I wondered if someone can give me some insight into this and what the law states.

Thank you.

DCFC79

You do the hours the contract states, you start at 9 and go at 5. No one else stays behind so why should you.

elsien

For starters, unless you've opted out there's the working time directive which you might want to look at.
In your position I wouldn't be doing the weekends (unless it's one of those well paid jobs where you accepted at the start that you need to do silly hours if required to get ahead.)
If work know they have busy periods they should be planning ahead to cover it.
However I think you also need to be careful in covering yourself - keep records of your workload and what you're doing, and bring it to your managers attention when it is not possible to cover it in the time. Put the ball back in his court and ask him what he wants you to prioritise given the impossibility of getting it all done. Send him emails confirming your understanding of what was agreed. Then you can show you've done everything you can and it won't come back to bite you on the bum at appraisal time.
And if it's such a !!!! department, can you transfer elsewhere. As long as everyone keeps doing the hours to complete the work, no-one further up is going to care how or why.

Hedgehog99

There is an increasing trend for staff feeling obliged to stay at work beyond their hours or to take work home. Your employer knows that fifteen of you are unlikely to dare to agree together to stick to your hours. All I can suggest is that you keep a diary of your hours and your boss's threats. Check your contract - does it warn you of twice-yearly busy periods & what does it say about overtime? Are (enough of) you in a trade union? Failing that, why do you want to stay? Can you transfer departments or leave altogether?

dommy27

DCFC79 wrote: »

You do the hours the contract states, you start at 9 and go at 5. No one else stays behind so why should you.

It's not just me, others stay behind as well. If you get up and leave at 5, my manager will make you stay behind and you're left feeling guilty. As stupid as that sounds, it's the truth. It's really horrid.

dommy27

It's not just me, others stay behind as well. If you get up and leave at 5, my manager will make you stay behind and you're left feeling guilty. As stupid as that sounds, it's the truth. It's really horrid.

elsien

How can he make you stay behind? Staple you to the desk? You have other commitments, you are unable to stay past your contracted hours - you don't have to say what those commitments are.
I understand it can be difficult to stand up for yourself, but if it's that or going off sick with stress I think I know what I'd prefer.

specialboy

Taking into account these extra hours, are you below minimum wage?

dommy27

I've tried to transfer departments but my appraisals have all been marked down for trivial reasons in the past, so moving departments is difficult. I am currently trying to look outside the company, something I thought I wouldn't do.

In the contract it mentions "in busy times you will be required to work additional hours." That's all it says. In other departments in the company, if you work overtime you get your hours back. Not in our department.

dommy27

If you take the extra hours into consideration, then yes.

dommy27

Can I take this matter further? As in tribunal? Never done anything like this before in my life but I can't do this much longer