I have questions this week about working in this unbearable heat, facing redundancy whilst on maternity leave, forcing overtime on staff and more.
Shift change
Q. Hi, My wife and I have booked a couple of nights away on her rota off shift, they are now looking to change her shifts. As she already had this planned do they have to honour it and will she need to cover it with annual leave.
A. Regardless of whether you had anything planned, the question is whether her employer can alter her shifts at short notice. You will need to check her employment contract. If her employer is entitled to alter her shifts by giving reasonable notice, it will be hard to argue against that. On the flip side, if her shifts are set out in her contract, any change to them should be agreed by both parties, not simply imposed on your wife.
Assuming they can change the rota, they are under no obligation to honour the time off purely because you have booked a holiday, but a reasonable employer should accommodate her needs. If they insist she changes her shifts and her request for annual leave is refused, there is not a great deal she can do other than take the break and face the consequences.
Contracted hours
Q. I have a full time contract (37.5 hrs) but some weeks only given 27 hrs. I am one of four members of staff, all with the same contract, but it appears I am the only one not being given my contracted hours. I have been paid full time hours, but received an email recently, stating I now owe all the hours back they weren’t able to allocate (currently 36hrs owing). I have been given 3 options to pay these hours back. Take annual leave, relocate to another site or reduce my hours. My new rota has been allocated and again I am the only member of staff not given contracted hours.
My questions are, do I legally have to make up these hours, even though I was available to work but not given the shifts? Do they have to treat all staff the fairly, by rotating who doesn’t receive their contracted hours?
A. Firstly double check your contract. Although you are full time there may be a clause allowing your employer to give you less hours due to the business needs. If there is no such clause
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