Shift work??

stegglegs93

Hi,

My partner works for an engineering company who produce work for the MOD- he has been told this work falls into the key worker category. 

He alternates a week of day shifts and a week of ‘late’ shifts with a colleague, and they both get paid the same premium for their ‘late’ shift. However, they have been told that in order to reduce ‘cross contamination’ between shifts that one of them will have to choose which shift to go on, leaving the other with less money! 

I have seen no evidence to say that people should not be doing shift work, as if social distancing and proper hygiene is being observed then this should not be a problem. I am worried that my partner will see a pay cut as a result of this. I have looked on the government website about shift work however it doesn’t look like this is part of the directive? 

Many thanks,
Nikki 

Sent from my iPhone

Jeremy535897

This is an employment law question, but the practical reality of it I think is to be grateful that there is still work.

sharpe106

As above I would be grateful still working and it will only be temporary. It would depend on what the contract says to if they can or not. But the reality is by the time anything can be done about it the crisis would have passed anyway.

7Phil

Agree with the above: As long as it is in terms with his employment it just may need to suffice.
The employer and us employeess will need to adjust and adapt to keep everyone safe and well.

However! If that means he is by himself for his shift then be aware there are OH&S issues around lone-working.
Make sure the employer is providing a safe working environment for him, e.g.: if he is by himself and needs to handle certain types of equipment then he should have a buddy to act in a case of emergency.
If there is a risk of that then speak to the company and impress on them that it is not acceptable for there to be less than two people on the job at the same time.

selina2000

stegglegs93 said:

Hi,

My partner works for an engineering company who produce work for the MOD- he has been told this work falls into the key worker category. 

He alternates a week of day shifts and a week of ‘late’ shifts with a colleague, and they both get paid the same premium for their ‘late’ shift. However, they have been told that in order to reduce ‘cross contamination’ between shifts that one of them will have to choose which shift to go on, leaving the other with less money! 

I have seen no evidence to say that people should not be doing shift work, as if social distancing and proper hygiene is being observed then this should not be a problem. I am worried that my partner will see a pay cut as a result of this. I have looked on the government website about shift work however it doesn’t look like this is part of the directive? 

Many thanks,
Nikki 

Sent from my iPhone

Could you explain how the time of day an individual works will affect the ‘cross contamination’, when they are presumably doing the same job to cover a 24 hour period.

Look on the bright side. Maybe your partner will get the premium shift, so benefitting financially from this new arrangement

Then he could do right by his workmate, by donating that extra money so that they both continue to earn the same
If the employer won't facilitate that (and I don't see why they would have an issue) it could still be done as a private arrangement between the two workers.