Hours of work changing due to Xmas Eve and New Years eve

skipfeeney

Hi All,

My partner works in a call centre 5pm - 10pm. On xmas eve and new years eve the Call Centre is closing early at 8pm so they are asking & expecting everyone to come in at 3pm instead.

I don't believe they are allowed to do this are they? The decision to close the call centre early is their decision.

Thanks

DCFC79

Is it a problem for her to go in at 3pm ?

theoretica

What does his contract say about hours?

They would certainly be able to take the extra 2 hours from his holidays if they chose.

skipfeeney

They have only been made aware of it this week. I didn't think you could change someones contracted hours so easily? Or can they?

She works those hours for childcare, xmas eve isn't a problem but new years eve is as we have a family party to go to during the day. To be honest its more the principal of it - she has offered to stay until 10pm but they won't let her.

JReacher1

This doesn't make sense. Call centres have their rota's carefully planned out to cover shift patterns. If everyone comes in at 3pm instead of 5pm then what's going to happen to the people who are normally working at 3pm?

You'll have far to many people on the phones at that time.

skipfeeney

It dosen't make sense, also they are so quiet at the moment my partner is lucky if she gets 2 calls a night. I think they just don't like the thought have someone getting paid for 2 hours work and not doing it.

But can they legally do this? If you worked in an office 9-5 and they closed early you wouldn't be expected to change your hours or make your hours up. The actions of your employer are preventing you doing your contractual hours?

Or am i completly wrong?

JReacher1

Contracts often have a clause in that says you are required to be flexible over hours. I work 9-5 but I sometimes work different hours if requested by the company I work for.

You'll have to check the contract. Then again if they are very quiet like to say and she doesn't get many calls then the chances are they will be laying people off soon. If they do that I would suggest it's best not to rock the boat as she'll be painting a target on her back.

theoretica

skipfeeney wrote: »

If you worked in an office 9-5 and they closed early you wouldn't be expected to change your hours or make your hours up.

That rather depends on the office!

As I said, they could legally tell her those hours were part of her annual holiday. Many people might prefer the chance to work them back, but if she would prefer to take them as holiday then she should ask for this instead.

Legality of enforcing the time change, as explained above, depends on the exact wording of her contract.

anmarj

I work in a contact centre, and we are shutting early, but we have to adjust our hours to suit, so instead of working 10.15 to 6.15, we work 9 - 5

TELLIT01

It certainly seems very odd that staff haven't been informed about the change until a day or 2 before it happens. Many people to arrange hours to suit child care and it's unreasonable for times to be changed at very short notice.
Whether it's illegal or not is another matter, and what staff can do about it is definitely in question.

Darksparkle

You need to check the contract.

When I worked in a contact centre although I worked the same shift pattern for years (4 x 9-5 and 1 x 12-8) my contract was any hours between 8-8, 5 days out of 7.

However my contract also stated I needed to be given 2 weeks notice of any pattern changes.

We almost always closed at 4 on bank holidays but we usually knew that about a month in advance.