Live-in accomidation

Gren

Dear all,

A close friend of mine works at a boarding kennels and is provided a mobile home to live in. The business owners also live on site in a conventional dwelling.

It is my understanding that for insurance purposes a member of staff must remain on site at all times.

Is it therefore unreasonable to expect her to ask permission to leave site every time? The restrictions to me do seem unreasonable and socially prohibitive, but are they contractually legal. You'd be given more freedom with strict parents!

As an example, last week my friend pre-arranged to leave site after work to go to the supermarket (she was very low on food) and gave 4 days notice of this intention. Around 2 hours before she was due to finish work and leave, the owner notified her that they (the owners) were now going out for dinner, and that my friend would have to go shopping another evening.

Happy to clarify as required.

Thanks,

Gren

Rosemary7391

Yikes! I'd be looking for a new job regardless of the legality. They don't sounds like reasonable people to work for.

It would seem fairer to have some sort of 'on call' rota, so she knows in advance what times she is due to remain on site.

Darksparkle

What does the contract actually say?

Owain_Moneysaver

It may be that if she is required to be on site at various times then this would count as working time under National Minimum Wage.

The ET and EAT accepted that the care home was legally obliged to ensure that it had a person with Miss Slavikovska’s qualifications resident at the care home all times and that Miss Slavikovska was paid to satisfy this requirement. It was therefore decided that Miss Slavikovska’s mere presence at the home was enough to constitute working time for NMW purposes.

J Esparon t/a Middle West Residential Care Home v Slavikovska

Mrs Whittlestone’s duty during the sleepover shift was to be physically present at the service user’s home. Her activities during sleepover hours were limited and in the words of the Judge, Mrs Whittlestone was not able to “slip out for a late night movie or fish and chips”.

Whittlestone v BJP Home Support Limited.

If the accommodation is provided free then this counts as £37.45 offset towards NMW.

I would strongly recommend specialist legal advice is obtained from an employment lawyer, or the ACAS Helpline but it is likely that
(a) the existing working hours contravene the Working Time Directive (unless there has been an opt-out, and possibly even if
(b) the terms of the contract are unreasonable and unenforceable
(c) there is a significant back claim for pay below NMW

Gren

I will have a read when I see her tomorrow and update!

xapprenticex

sounds like a cult to me

sangie595

Never mind NMW - what about working hours???? 24 hours a day and seven days a week breaks so much of the working time regulations that I am not sure there are any left to comply with! If she cannot go anywhere without prior permission she would be deemed to be working all those hours. The test for "standby" would be the extent to which the time is under your control. Where the employer can control where you can go or how quickly you must respond to a work situation, then those are working hours. Based on what the OP is suggesting here, she may have no more than a few hours a week off work!