DH works 6 or 7 day week and now employers are questioning him taking days owed. Does he have a right to take it?

[peoplepleaser1]

DH is a company director (non executive). He works very hard. His regular hours are 9 hours a day, 5 days a week (he works Saturdays and has a day off in the week).

He often works late; brings work home; deals with issues or goes in on his day off,; responds to alarm calls at any hour of the night meaning he has to attend work for several hours; cancels his day off altogether; works six or seven days a week in the festive period; covers late nights at Christmas so maybe a 20 hour day, plus four times a year goes abroad for a weekend on a trip.

He has a pretty good salary and a great bonus (but this is related to business performance). He gets 4 weeks holiday a year,.

He does not count any extra hours, work done at home or days where he flies abroad. However, when he works a full day on a day off and can't take an alternative day off he counts this as a day owed.

He probably accrues 15 days owed a year and over the past 6 years has taken 3-4 of them. He doesn't carry them forward.

His boss is now saying that as a director he expects DH to just swallow these extra days.

He's gutted. Given the choice he would take a pay cut for extra time off, but this isn't an option.

We aren't clear if he has a right to these days.

Can anyone offer any thoughts please.

Thank you for your thoughts mumsnetters.

It's a tough call for DH. It's just not in his nature to do anything other than work his socks off, and do as he's told. I know he needs to have a full and frank discussion with his boss, but the reality is that he finds it very tough to do this.

He's closer than he's ever been to sticking up for himself though- as he does feel he really needs his time off.

He totally accepts he needs to do extra hours. But to be frank they are taking the piss!

They should be looking after him. He works so hard, is excellent at his job, brings in 2.5 times more income than the next best performer, hasn't had a sick day in 5 years. But he struggles with stress and anxiety, bought on by the demands of his job. His time off is his way to cope.

Sigh.

@TeacupDrama I'm really sorry- I can't quite follow what you've said. Is there anything you could point me to that sets this out in layman's terms. Thank you for your help.

If I was him, I think I'd ask for a coach to help with the stress and anxiety. And how to have difficult conversations. It'll make him better at his job in the long run.

People at your husbands level are often referred to as ADM ( automonomous decision makers) this is a legal term setting them apart from 99% of normal employees and it means the law on working time directives do not apply

this means they don't have set hours they are paid to do the job (it doesn't include ordinary or even line managers when you have to be on premises for set or core hours but still do unpaid overtime to finish the job just being very senior doesn't automatically make you AMD)

they do not sign in or out for calculation of hours ( they may sign in or out so it is known who is on premises for health and safety) their hours are not counted or measured or set by their employer
your DH is almosat certainly AMD but this means all though he is paid to do job and has to do it they can't demand that he has to be on premises certain core hours , or that he can't leave the office at X Y Z time ( obviously if he has scheduled at meeting for 2pm he can't swan off but that is because he is in charge of his hours and he decided to be available or scheduled it for 2pm) if you are a partner in a buisness you will be AMD but however senior an employee is that doesn't make them AMD
to be AMD you have control over your working hours not anyone else it would also apply to anyone genuinely self employed as opposed to a sub contractor GP doctors are AMD hospital doctors are not
even with AMD employers have a duty of care not to overwork staff so that it compromises health and safety etc

no one can be expected to be available 24/7 52 weeks a year

he is entitled to a nights sleep without interuptions and a day off each week, if he works late on Wednesday with AMD he should be able to not go in until 10am tomorrow or if he works on a Thursday when he was planned to be off he can take Friday instead; if he can't choose his hours or has them dictated he is not genuinely AMD

Why is he being called in on his days off though? Sounds like there is a gap in the management structure.

TeacupDrama the 28 days can include the bank holidays. So 4 weeks plus the 8 BH days is allowed.

OP, it’s likely as a director that your husband is an autonomous decision maker/office holder which means that neither the maximum 48 hour working week, nor rest breaks (including minimum 24 or 48 hour rest periods apply).

It’s further likely that his contract will state along the lines that he agrees to perform whatever hours are required to fulfil the role without any entitlement to compensatory rest or extra remuneration.

What that means is the usual laws don’t apply and he needs to manage his own time. Unless his contract expressly outlines an entitlement to time in lieu, there’s no statutory or implied entitlement to it.

However, his employer is being rather mean and clearly doesn’t care too deeply about his wellbeing!

I say this as an employment lawyer and director myself who has worked a 7 day week for the last month.

@minniemountain

I know 28 days includes bank holidays but as OP says her DH was working 6-7 day weeks in festive periods it does rather suggest he wasn't off bank holidays