Overtime payment on business trip

skyrp

Dear all,
I don't really know what to do... I'm working as engineer for manufacturing company, my job specification is saying that I'm required to travel when needed. I don't have any problems with that and I used to do it in past. Any time when I have done it in past I could bank by hours back. Usually I travel abroad and not every supplier / customer is based in the same city as airport... So basically when I'm traveling I work approx. until 10pm (normally i work until 5pm). I had few situations where I have banked approx. 10-15 hours back as I have been working very late. By the way all my colleagues are doing exactly the same - they bank every single minute of their time abroad.

What happened recently have broken me completely I have been requested to go for a week business trip with management to few different countries for one of the projects. Again I didn't have any problems with that as I really like to travel.

First of all Monday was bank holiday (where I spend 13h working as had 2 flights and had to spend 5 hours driving to customer)
Tuesday working until 22:00
Wednesday working from 04:00 (because of early flight) until 22:00
Thursday working until 22:00
and Finally Friday (where I normally work until 12:00 because that is company policy) I have been working until 01:00am Sunday...

so if you count all together 13+5+4+5+5+13=45h overtime
but that is not everything - my company handbook is saying that if you work on bank holiday you have double pay + hours in lieu so 13*2 + 13h hols

When I prepared my documentation and passed to the manager who was traveling with me he said that he won't sign it as it is too much (he doesn't get paid for overtime, but has 2x bigger salary than me). I have pushed very hard and topic has gone to general managers / directors.

2 weeks later my mate from work has travelled for 3 days, he came back from the business trip and gave the documentation to the manager and he signed everything (I think he had approx. 15h - but he didn't travel on bank holiday or Friday) I was so upset about that, but never mind life is going on.

Week after that I have been requested to travel again, so I went for 2 days trip (the subject related to one week trip still WIP with senior people). I have worked abroad extra 10h and when I came back I went to my manager to get a signature for overtime, but AGAIN he didn't sign it (where my colleague who travelled one week before had a sign).

I don't know what to do guys... I had a meeting with Management Board and they told me that there is no policy for business travel and the overtime in my handbook is when you work in UK?!?! and they need to design some kind of contract which will cover the business trips.

I don't know what to say and what to do how could they sign my friends request after my business trip (which hasn’t been signed) and then when I travelled after him they didn't sign it again? What should I do?

My friend told me that there is something called "setting a precedent" and they can't just change the rules like that ? but I don't know where should I refer to...

Could anyone advise what should I do? Is there any law or something that will be on my side as currently all senior person is against me if we speak about this hours… I know that if I won’t get it signed I start looking for the new job… as I think it is really not acceptable to treat people like that. If they would make clause or agreement that I won’t get paid for traveling I would sign it and be fine with that, but that is not how it is as I used to be paid for that same as my all colleagues.

Regards,

SKYrP:beer:

Comms69

Raise a grievance.

lincroft1710

The only law that would be broken is that if your annual salary divided by all the hours you have worked in that period of 12 months came to a figure less than the National Living Wage (assuming you are over 25). Or if you were paid less than your colleague because of your race, colour, creed, gender, sexual orientation or a disability.

It is not illegal to pay two people different amounts for doing the same job.

I probably know the answer to this, but are you in a union?

sangie595

Also, raise a grievance.

Tbh, this is partially your own fault. You had an opportunity to say that you'd been burnt the previous time(s) in not getting all your time back - for which there is no law to support you really - so you'd only be traveling for work again when the issue was sorted out. Instead you set off on another trip knowing that you hasn't been paid for any of the time previously. That was pretty foolish.

That said, what your manager gets paid had nothing to do with anything, and one way or another the company need to address this matter because that is an excessive amount of "overtime" to be claiming for. They should have proper policies to cover this.

k3lvc

Couple of questions

How long have you worked there ?

Are you physically 'working' for all the time you're claiming or is some of it travelling/hanging around in airports/taxis etc ?

Do you get other benefits while you're away (meals/drinks/nights out etc) or are you kept on a tight budget ?

At the end of the day (speaking as someone in 'Management' who travels on a regular basis) I'd be treating it as a balancing act i.e. looking for some (especially weekend/bank hols) as time off in lieu but treating the rest as part of the adventure/knowledge building etc - unless of course you're incurring additional costs by not being at home in which case you should look at a way of covering those

getmore4less

lincroft1710 wrote: »

The only law that would be broken is that if your annual salary divided by all the hours you have worked in that period of 12 months came to a figure less than the National Living Wage (assuming you are over 25). Or if you were paid less than your colleague because of your race, colour, creed, gender, sexual orientation or a disability.

It is not illegal to pay two people different amounts for doing the same job.

I probably know the answer to this, but are you in a union?

Min wage rules work over a pay period.

skyrp

Comms69 wrote: »

Raise a grievance.

Thank you for the reply. I hope that I will have another meeting with management and will mention about doing the same work as my colleague and not being paid. No I’m not part of any union, do you recommend me to join?

skyrp

sangie595 wrote: »

Also, raise a grievance.

Tbh, this is partially your own fault. You had an opportunity to say that you'd been burnt the previous time(s) in not getting all your time back - for which there is no law to support you really - so you'd only be traveling for work again when the issue was sorted out. Instead you set off on another trip knowing that you hasn't been paid for any of the time previously. That was pretty foolish.

That said, what your manager gets paid had nothing to do with anything, and one way or another the company need to address this matter because that is an excessive amount of "overtime" to be claiming for. They should have proper policies to cover this.

It is not like that… I have spoken about it before I accepted the travel and my manager said that he will sign it for me. Generally he signed it off, but it has been put on hold as someone higher than him has to approve it after… I know that it doesn’t matter how much they earn, they were !!!!ed off that someone (me) wants to claim that amount of hours, but I feel that I have a full rights for it as other people from mine department would do the same.

skyrp

k3lvc wrote: »

Couple of questions

How long have you worked there ?

Are you physically 'working' for all the time you're claiming or is some of it travelling/hanging around in airports/taxis etc ?

Do you get other benefits while you're away (meals/drinks/nights out etc) or are you kept on a tight budget ?

At the end of the day (speaking as someone in 'Management' who travels on a regular basis) I'd be treating it as a balancing act i.e. looking for some (especially weekend/bank hols) as time off in lieu but treating the rest as part of the adventure/knowledge building etc - unless of course you're incurring additional costs by not being at home in which case you should look at a way of covering those

Thank you for your reply.
I have worked there for more than 1 year now.
That was a very intense business trip, nearly every day we had a flight with change + driving from the airport to the supplier / customer (approx. 2h driving). So i.e. 04:00 left the hotel to have a flight (flight at 6), then change on the next airport and arrival to the destination approx. 11:00, driving 4h to the customer, 17:00-21:00 meeting with the customer and roughly 22:00 arrival to the hotel… how would you count it?
I have been traveling with management, so they paid for every meal and flights. I didn’t have any own allowance.
The thing is that I have asked for banking these hours, so I could use them for my holidays… but my boss told me that he needs me too much and cannot afford to lose me for another week  I said then it need to be treated somehow and other way is the overtime payment, but in total I think it is quite big amount (it is nothing for such big company where I work, so again I cannot understand it). Obviously it was good development and like you said part of adventure, but I can only say that I was away from home and my family for a long time and there should be some sort of compensation for that. I can only tell that If I would be Manager and has that salary I wouldn’t even ask for the compensation as it is part of the job…

Me2you

What’s your salary?

lincroft1710

If you have worked there for less than 2 years, you can be dismissed for no reason. So tread with caution when negotiating with management.

Although a union will not usually act for a new member in connection an existing grievance, union membership is recommended as who knows what will happen in the future