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Forced to work Boxing Day?
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[Deleted User]
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Hi.
Looking for some advice here please.
My employer has just today posted our Christmas/New year hours and I was down for working Boxing Day, Sunday 26th December. However my contracted hours are a Tuesday through to Saturday. I have never worked a Sunday since I started four months ago (not for religious reasons though.)
My boss has said theres nothing he can do, he needs people in on Sunday because sales are starting (it's a retail job.) However, I already have plans to spend Christmas day with my family and then Boxing day with my girlfriends family.
Where do i stand on this matter? Can i refuse to work it as it's technically overtime?
Thanks in advance
Looking for some advice here please.
My employer has just today posted our Christmas/New year hours and I was down for working Boxing Day, Sunday 26th December. However my contracted hours are a Tuesday through to Saturday. I have never worked a Sunday since I started four months ago (not for religious reasons though.)
My boss has said theres nothing he can do, he needs people in on Sunday because sales are starting (it's a retail job.) However, I already have plans to spend Christmas day with my family and then Boxing day with my girlfriends family.
Where do i stand on this matter? Can i refuse to work it as it's technically overtime?
Thanks in advance
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If it's literally written in your contract, then there's nothing your boss can do.
However - is there a get out clause on his behalf that says you will be expected to provide resonable cover?
However, i wasn't asked if i could work the 26th, it was just put onto the rota without me knowing about it. When i have had every other Sunday off, then I assumed it would be the same at Christmas!
Which shop do you work for?
I've got a feeling you may have to work this shift
It's a DIY shop. Kinda similiar to BaseHome, but rearrange the letters
That suggests that they can have you work a couple of hours before or after the start or the end of your shift. Its an entirely different thing to getting you to work on a public holiday on a day you're not even contracted to work on. I'd read the contract carefully though and make certain that you're in the right before talking to him.
Boxing Day isn't observed as much in Scotland as in England - we do tend to have more shops open, plenty of sales start then (and technically 26th December isn't Boxing Day this year anyway, it's the Monday and Tuesday which are the public holidays).
I don't see why, if the contract says it's only Tuesday to Saturday.
I should mention I am indeed in Scotland, hence the opening on the 26th!
But our shopping centre and another I checked (Brent Cross in N London) are closed on 26th but opened on Monday and Tuesday.
The reason I said about why OP has to work is because Boxing Day sales is a big one for retailers and they need all hands on deck. My niece and nephew are both in retail.
Ah, I was talking about England hours. Sorry can't help.
I'm working it (retail too!) but I do every Sunday so I'm screwed, but if our managers did this I doubt people would stand for it. I think it's ridiculous that having it 'in a contract' means you can basically rape your employees personal lives and they can't do anything about it. 'Needs of the company' my arse. I don't think they can actually make you work your non-contracted days though.
I agree. I think retail needs to respect that people need family time. This is the first time I'll get to spend any part of Christmas (albeit Boxing Day) with my girlfriend, and we were both looking forward to it.
A shame they don't see it like that!
This is totally unreasonable of them to expect it.
My contract says the same as yours, we may ask you to work outside of your normal contract hours. They either ask you verbally or its on an overtime sign up sheet!
If I was put in for a shift I hadnt signed up for or asked about then I would be asking why I am put down for it!
If you dont want to work it you dont have to as you are outside of your contract.
If you are full time this may be different as they expect you to work x hours over a 5 day periood.
Thanks. That is very interesting.
I am not on a full-time contract. My contract is 16 hours Tuesdays to Saturdays, but the actual hours and days vary week to week. Always between the Tues and Sat however, hence my confusion with these Christmas hours!
That's a fairly standard policy & text written into many a contract up and down the land. If it's not that it's something like 'we reserve the right to make alterations or ask for flexibility to run the business'.
In effect, if you cannot do the Boxing Day Sunday, then you are failing the company ultimatum to work when they say you should.
The corporate firm has a legality similar to a person and that person (the corporate company) expects you to put other people (family and friends) behind them when necessary.
If you don't go in when your boss has said there's nothing he can do, then be open to either disciplinary or sacking. It's your problem for working in retail and expecting to have a day off on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
As somebody else mentioned, unfortunately working retail these days does seem to mean being availabe 7 days a week.
I'd prefer to see the whole contract to be sure, but if it literally refers only to varying "your start/finish times", I don't see how anyone could interpret that to mean "and those times could be on days which we've already agreed you're not working on".
I'd agree though that if the OP's contract guarantees him never to have to work on Sunday or Monday then he's in a relatively good position compared with many retail workers.
16 hours a week is throwaway labour.
I suspect from what the OP has said is that the contract states Tue-Sat 16 hours inclusive.
However after that I suspect comes the "On a temporary basis we may ask you to vary your start/finish times to deal with short term operational cover"
Which is a catch all really. As I said it's either that text or something along the lines of 'we reserve the right to ask for flexibility to ensure the smooth running of the business'.
If there's such a clause in the contract then it means he's fooked. It means someone could be contracted 16 hours Tue-Sat, but then be asked to work 2am-6am as a one off for operational reasons. It could mean for someone working 40 hours 8.30-5.00 Mon-Fri that they get called in to do a Sat 9am-1pm or something.
The only question imo is whether that week the 16 hours is inclusive of the Boxing Day hours, or whether he has already done the 16hrs on the Tue-Sat (21st-25th) and that Sunday 26th is extra overtime.
If his 16hrs for the week is part of that weeks Boxing Day hours then there's no argument from what he has said.
If the hours are extra to the Tue-Sat then they would be overtime, as an addition to the regular 16 hours. However even in this case the text "On a temporary basis we may ask you to vary your start/finish times to deal with short term operational cover" would cover such an eventuality.
I don't think the OP has a leg to stand on.
The corporate ultimatum is either you get your ass into work on Boxing Day or face the awful consequences. The corporate 'person' demands that you put them ahead of other people known to you.
This. If you work in retail suck it up or find somewhere else to work.
In an old contract I had, although I was working Monday - Friday normal office hours, it said I was employed from 7am - 11pm Monday to Sunday, but would be given adequate notice (2 weeks I believe) if there was any changes to be made.