Sons new job.

Sarah69

Hi, I’m looking for some advice for my son and his new job. I think this is his either 5/6 week he’s been there. He has a contract, his hours are 6am til 2pm mon to fri and there is overtime opportunities if he wants that.  He said only to me that he would work every other Saturday which he has done. He has also done 2 extra hours overtime at the end of his shift a few times. They are now telling him he HAS to do this at least 3 times a week work til 4. Can anybody give me any advice on where my son stands with this issue. 

Jillanddy

He doesn't have to work anything that isn't in his contract. Unfortunately, they don't have to employ him either. Time to look for another job if this doesn't suit him, as they can sack him easily.

TELLIT01

Your son has very little employment protection in the first 2 years of employment.  If they employer is saying "You must do x" even if it's not in his contract, he really has three options 1.  Accept the revised hours.  2. Try to negotiate fewer hours.  3.  Refuse to do more than his contracted hours.  It is then up to the employer to decide if they wish to keep him on.

Ditzy_Mitzy

There's no harm in saying 'no'.  I did when, as a teenager, a manager attempted to alter my working hours to ones not on my contract.  The manager backed down and it was all forgotten about within a week.  Suggest that your son is similarly blunt.  

gettingtheresometime

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

There's no harm in saying 'no'.  I did when, as a teenager, a manager attempted to alter my working hours to ones not on my contract.  The manager backed down and it was all forgotten about within a week.  Suggest that your son is similarly blunt.  

No harm except oh I don't know ...unemployment perhaps?

OP - if your son is being paid for these hours, what is the issue?

Jillanddy

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

There's no harm in saying 'no'.  I did when, as a teenager, a manager attempted to alter my working hours to ones not on my contract.  The manager backed down and it was all forgotten about within a week.  Suggest that your son is similarly blunt.  

When was that? Because right now young people are queuing up to get a job - almost any job. Things were not easy before, but since the pandemic they are desperate - young people are one of the two worst affected groups in respect of employment, and even getting on a "scheme" right now is almost impossible in some areas, never mind getting a job. If he doesn't need a job and doesn't care about the income, then yes, fine, say no. But compulsory overtime is far from unusual, and when he follows your advice he needs to be aware that the most likely outcome is not going to be that his manager forgets about it by next week. It's far more likely that his manager will have forgotten about him by next week, because someone else will have his job. Perhaps that's ok by him. But there's plenty of harm in saying no, so suggesting there isn't is worryingly bad advice.  

Anyanka1

I can only imagine DitzyP_Mitzy was referring to an incident which occurred before 1980.  Of course, I don't actually care but would caution against such advice.

[Deleted User]

https://www.acas.org.uk/the-maximum-hours-an-employee-can-work

Could your son find out why he has to do extra?

At the start of my current job I was nearly landed with working 50 hours until I expressed I wouldn't like to do that, I was asked a question at interview along the lines of would anything prevent you working extra - I thought it was to do with having children or something - it later turned out to be connected that there will be occasions when a 7 day week/certain overtime is required to cover the person who recruited me - when they are taking their leave. I kept my job as there isn't such a queue lining up and educated myself if I ever come across an interview question like that again, I will be more in the know too.

StevenB12

As mentioned above, your son doesn't HAVE to do any extra ours. Overtime is optional. Sadly, as again mentioned, only being a couple of weeks in he would be easy to replace if he doesn't do these hours. There's obviously a reason he's been told he has to do them, increased work load etc? But at this time of the year me personally I wouldn't be saying no to the money. Probably won't make it feel any better for him but I'm doing 90 odd hours a week at the moment, a few extra isn't to bad lol.

If they have said he has to work the extra hours they are probably happy enough with his work to give him the extra money. That's the way I would look at it.