Sacked for not doing overtime - grey area?

twopenny

Anything in your contract that states the hours of work they are paying you for?

Anything about working beyond that?

Anything signed that says you may be required at times to work beyond your stated hours?

It may not help with this job but if you are clear on where you thought you stood then explaining that when you go for another interview would be good.

Cobbler_tone

DullGreyGuy said:

Cobbler_tone said:

You've listed three protected characteristics already.

Being discriminated against for being a middle aged, white male is a bit of a joke in our workplace.

In most places it will be but there have been successful cases of white cis males claiming discrimination, Thames Valley Police early this year were found to have discriminated against 3 white male officers by advertising a new job but then simply selecting a female asian person for the promotion without actually running any form of competitive process

TBF we just had raa raa for Mens Health week. One in three candidates for senior roles must be women. We have the mantra of 'everyone welcome', do tons around diversity, Black History month etc.
If I am honest (and generous) a lot of the moves in big orgs revolve around 'unconscious bias'. If you are young, ambitious, female (in some situations), a person of colour or have a disability, it is most certainly an advantage in many businesses....but I am sure the opposite still applies to many more. Whether that is advantageous in order to build a more diverse workforce, potentially to the detriment of others, is probably up for debate. I know my place in my organisation and I still feel valued but I know the roles there would be absolutely no point applying for, which I have in the past. You can see where the recognition and profile goes on around you. 

At the same time (despite being one) maybe white, middle aged men have had it too good for too long?! 
The whole subject is a mine field.

NCC1701-A

leew said:

NCC1701-A said:

leew said:

Hi all,

Here goes, no idea about this really but just thought I'd throw it out there to maybe someone more clued up than myself!

Last Thursday I was coming towards the end of my 10hr shift - normally do 10hrs Mon-Fri as do most of the others unless of course you agree to do more - to add nothing stated in my contract regards compulsory overtime and not had any issues before.

I get a phone call towards the end of the day telling me to do another job which I and most right minded people will know will take me over 10hrs to which I say I won't have time which meets deaf ears really is best to describe it! after a bit of a heated debate shall we say!

I was told to return to the office to which I did and the time was 1615 - I am due off at 1630, nothing was said so I went home as per usual.

I got in the next morning at 630am and was told to clear my desk! reason given was 'I refused to do the work" to which I replied, no I didn't want any overtime but that didn't cut it.

I do feel very aggrieved to be honest, never been sacked in my life! I spoke to ACAS who said I haven't a chance with this because I've not been there 2yrs+ - 10mths I was there.

I know alot of my work colleagues were shocked and couldn't believe how they could just sack you on the spot in this instance.

Anyone have any thoughts please? probably wasting my time writing this but needed to hopefully get some opinions.

Thanks. 

You normally do 10hr shifts 5 days a week? Did you opt out of the working time directive?

What does your dismissal letter say as the reason for terminating your contract? Is there an email chain for the disputed extra work/ overtime?

Yep, 50hr week I do normally - I have done more on occasion and a little less too like 48 - 49hrs.

I haven't opted in or out since I started, just went about my work.

No letter or anything regards the dismissal, just a 2 minute conversation at 630am on a Friday morning, didn't even have the courtesy to let me know the previous day but that doesn't surprise me I'll be honest. 

https://www.gov.uk/maximum-weekly-working-hours

Have a look at the above link and speak to ACAS about potential for bringing a claim for refusing to work beyond 48hrs a week (on average).

DullGreyGuy

Cobbler_tone said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Cobbler_tone said:

You've listed three protected characteristics already.

Being discriminated against for being a middle aged, white male is a bit of a joke in our workplace.

In most places it will be but there have been successful cases of white cis males claiming discrimination, Thames Valley Police early this year were found to have discriminated against 3 white male officers by advertising a new job but then simply selecting a female asian person for the promotion without actually running any form of competitive process

TBF we just had raa raa for Mens Health week. One in three candidates for senior roles must be women. We have the mantra of 'everyone welcome', do tons around diversity, Black History month etc.
If I am honest (and generous) a lot of the moves in big orgs revolve around 'unconscious bias'. If you are young, ambitious, female (in some situations), a person of colour or have a disability, it is most certainly an advantage in many businesses....but I am sure the opposite still applies to many more. Whether that is advantageous in order to build a more diverse workforce, potentially to the detriment of others, is probably up for debate. I know my place in my organisation and I still feel valued but I know the roles there would be absolutely no point applying for, which I have in the past. You can see where the recognition and profile goes on around you. 

At the same time (despite being one) maybe white, middle aged men have had it too good for too long?! 
The whole subject is a mine field.

Some of the things do sound gimmicky like removing names from CVs, places of study etc but at the same time I've reviewed CVs and shared my selections with the hiring manager for them to say to remove one of them "as I've no idea how to pronounce their name". Of the 4 shortlisted they were probably the strongest and certainly at least 2nd best

EnPointe

LightFlare said:

Emmia said:

Abbafan1972 said:

what is a “protected characteristic” ? 

Are you female, trans, gay, non white, disabled, believe in a minority religion... are married /unmarried -.are any of those a reason for this situation?

Or is it that you just didn't want to do the overtime?

https://www.gov.uk/discrimination-your-rights

Thats discriminatory against white,straight males 

That’s why the gov.uk document is VERY careful in the language it uses

no it's not , now grow up ... 

 it gets extremely  boring when people  attempt to claim that compliance with the law is discrimination  against white, what  straight cisgender men ...  

 the level of privilege  exuded by  these people is massive and demonstrates that  they have  seriously impaired view of their own self and wirth  and  are utterly ignorant of the  way in which many organisations still expect anyone outside that narrow   defintion to be  many times better at their role just to be considered  'adequate' ...