We're being forced to work extra 4 hrs on a sunday!

faerie_girl

As mentioned in a previous thread me and my partner work in a supermarket. Weekends only as we are students. We should finish at 5pm on sunday, and it takes us 1hr 45 to get home on the bus (20 mins in car on motorway gggrrr).

Now the thing is the company have introduced more stocktakes. They are wanting us to work unil 9pm one of the sundays which they are stocktaking.

It does say in the staff hand book that we may be required to work over our contracted hours in busy periods such as easter, christmas and the stocktake.

As it takes almost two hours to get home I find this a bit unfair. The supervisors all say 'well its in the staff handbook'
But when we applied for the positions we told them the hours we were able to work, which they agreed to, and we agreed to.

So now its going from, you may be required to work the stocktake (the one stocktake a year) to you will have to work one out of the many stocktakes and stay till 9pm... on a sunday. Now if i didn't have to work sundays I would withdraw my consent to working sundays, but I can't.

this is going to be so inconvient, getting home at about 11ish and we will have college the next day. It maybe time and a half but the money is not worth the hassle.

They will not even try and ask people who may actually want to do the overtime, they are forcing everyone who works sundays to stay late.

I am considering asking USDAW for advice but as it is in the staff handbook i should have to do it really.

Thanks for letting me rant...

any advice would be helpful.

Regards, Faerie x

joughtib

How often do these stocktakes take place? Has it gone from yearly, to monthly for example.

If it's now totally unacceptible, then you may want to consider changing your positions. 1hr 45 each way does seem like a long commute, just for supermarket hourly rate. Is there nothing closer on the same sort of money?

Please don't take my questioning as having a go, I just want you to look at the whole picture!

Sharifa_2

How frequently are they asking you to do this late Sunday stocktake? If it's a one-off, I'd bite the bullet and do it. If it's more frequently as required by the staff handbook, I'd question if I were in the right job if flexibility is a problem for you. Finishing at 9pm is not unreasonable, and it's really not your employer's problem how long it takes you to get home.

While Conor's been somewhat abrupt, he does make a valid point about the hours that many people work. When I worked, I sometimes had to get into the office for 7am and leave at 9pm; it was just something I dealt with when I had to do it.

barvid

Conor wrote: »

Aww poor diddums. Finishing at 9, getting home at 11pm and only having 10hrs at home until you start college. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? I work in a job where you regularly do up to 15 hrs a day, only getting 9hrs off INCLUDING the time it takes you to get home and back to work. For many people who commute, they get 10 hours or less at home. In my new job, it's 12 hr shifts and an hours travelling each way so I'll get 10hrs at home every working day.

How long it takes you to get home is not their problem.

Welcome to the real world. Get used to it.

I'm sure the OP found that rude post very unhelpful. Why bother posting this?

Conor_3

Because it is reality for most of the working population and it is both legal and part of the contract the OP signed.

C_Ronaldo

OP

why dont you ask usdaw, do the stock takes always happen on the same day, could you not say you'll do every other one or say you have other engagements which you do on sundays after work, i personnaly wouldnt be happy working every stock take,

Hapless_2

They are wanting us to work unil 9pm one of the sundays which they are stocktaking.

One of the Sundays, not every week isn't it?
I take it you will be paid for this?

It does say in the staff hand book that we may be required to work over our contracted hours in busy periods such as easter, christmas and the stocktake.

Welcome to retail.

lynzpower

Its not the astaff handbook I wouldnt suppose you need to look for, its your contract.

I believe it is illegal for them to change your contracted hours.

Can anyone confirm?

PLease be helpful, abuse is simply not acceptable here which is why its been reported.

dmg24

Assuming it is one of the big supermarkets, it will state somewhere that the staff handbook forms part of the contract of employment. Furthermore, having to work a few hours extra for a stocktake is standard practice in retail, so it could be argued that it is incorporated into the contract of employment in that way.

They are not changing the OP's contracted hours, they are simply asking them to help out by working a few extra hours. It is called goodwill.

Whilst I may not agree with the way that Conor phrased it (:p ) , I do echo his sentiments. The OP needs to realise that they will come across this, and much worse, in the real world, and that is just the way things work.

ZootHornRollo

it will no doubt be in the staff hand book and most retail contracts make references to the handbooks for guidance.

it is standard practice in retail for some, if not all staff to have to work on a stocktake regardless of whether you are contracted fo rthese particular hours. it is a busy time for the store and you would be helping the team as a whole by attending. i cannot see this as being a very regular occurance - maybe once a year, certainly no more than 4 times a year.

i regularly work a 10pm finish into a 6am start, i have just finished a 16 day stretch without a day off. that is retail.

i have to agree with the sentiment in conors post but not the way it was put across. many students (and others) in retail seem to think they are hard done by when asked to do extra or change their hours but they expect you to bend over backwards when it comes to needing their shifts changed at short notice as they have something to hand in that they really should have started weeks ago. or when their days/times they attend uni/college change two or three times year. flexibility is a two way thing. - i am in retail in case you hadn't guessed.

i think the OP needs to just bite the bullet and get on with it.

you can opt out of working a sunday by signing some form, part of eu work time reg i think. but your employer is under no obligation to offer you any alternative hours - eg. if you work 16 hrs a week and 8 of them are on a sunday and you opt out, your contract can be reduced to 8 hrs. you need to carry on working sundays for a certain period after signing the form before the sundays cease, something like 8 weeks.

lynzpower

it is standard practice in retail for some, if not all staff to have to work on a stocktake regardless of whether you are contracted fo rthese particular hours. it is a busy time for the store and you would be helping the team as a whole by attending. i cannot see this as being a very regular occurance - maybe once a year, certainly no more than 4 times a year.

my OH does a monthly stocktake, however, it was expressed to him at his interview and was told his is a condition of service...

what i dont get is that if its part of the handbook when you join say in 2001, but they obviosly update the handbook as they go. so the handbook can look v differnet in 2007?

If its part of the contract, can they "adapt" it as they go. I know cmpanies DO, but is it legal