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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be shocked that retail workers don't get extra pay to work boxing day

210 replies

Sunshinecloud6537 · 10/12/2018 19:48

AIBU to expect these retail/hospitality workers get extra pay on top of their hourly wage when working over Xmas bank holidays. These workers a missing our on time with their families at christmas with no extra remuneration to compensate this loss of family time.

AIBU or does this just seem very unfair and not at all in the spirit of christmas?

OP posts:
ForalltheSaints · 10/12/2018 19:51

I am not shocked.

I just wish all non-food stores were closed on Boxing Day as well as Christmas Day. We can live without clothes shopping for 2 days and wait for sales.

Dairyqueen2 · 10/12/2018 19:52

They do get extra, don't they?? Thought everyone did on a bank holiday Confused

Biancadelriosback · 10/12/2018 19:52

Some do, some don't. I worked in retail and hospitality for over 10 years and the thing that is more annoying is that public transport is limited so most rely on taxis (at higher rates) or friends and family giving them a lift to and from work.
Boxing day isn't really a thing in my family. No different than a Sunday really. Working Christmas day and not even getting time and a half is harsh though.

Sexnotgender · 10/12/2018 19:53

They do get extra, don't they?? Thought everyone did on a bank holiday

Not necessarily.

I worked in hospitality and we would get time and a half for bank holidays then they just stopped doing it. Normal pay regardless.

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer · 10/12/2018 19:53

I dont get any extra for working boxing day

I also get people saying what a shame it is that i am working boxing day

While they are shopping...in the shop i work in...on boxing day Grin

OllyBJolly · 10/12/2018 19:56

Thought everyone did on a bank holiday

Nope that's a myth along with it's illegal to not get sick pay. Many, many workers get no additional pay for bank holiday working.

I'm with AllSaints . We don't need stores to be open on Boxing Day. I'm old enough to remember when the January sales started in January (and there was no Sunday trading and we got Boxing Day off)

EdisonLightBulb · 10/12/2018 19:56

DD used to get extra working for River Island, I'm sure it was double time. At 16-18 she bloody loved working Boxing Day....for the money but hated the sales.

StorminaBcup · 10/12/2018 19:56

Retail workers get normal pay, given that most are on zero hours contracts they'll be lucky to get holiday or sick pay. I hated working in retail at Christmas, considering it's the season of good will people become so obnoxious and rude!

RedRedBluee · 10/12/2018 19:57

I didn’t get paid extra when I worked in retail. Nor on regular bank holidays.
Well the spirit of Christmas has been commercialised don’t you know 🤷🏼‍♀️

I can’t imagine anything worse than going shopping on Boxing Day.

hidinginthenightgarden · 10/12/2018 19:57

It is no longer the case that you need to pay extra for bank holidays so most businesses don't. To be fair some probably cannot afford it and others are just greedy!

Unihorn · 10/12/2018 19:58

I've worked in hospitality for eight years and never had extra pay for working at Christmas, and never have bank holidays off. I also only get 25 days holiday. Working in hospitality and retail is crap, I thought it was common knowledge by now.

EwItsAHooman · 10/12/2018 19:59

Friend's son has a job at a well-known clothing store and has to work Boxing Day. All staff at his branch have to be there at 5am and he'll be working until 5pm. Where we live there are no buses on at all on Boxing Day.

He's 19 so gets £5.90 an hour. A taxi to the shop, at bank holiday rate will be around £20-£25 then the same home again. They've already been told that anyone who phones in sick or fails to turn in will be sacked.

OutragedERIC · 10/12/2018 19:59

While they are shopping...in the shop i work in...on boxing day grin

Like the people who love to moan about all the folks supermarket- shopping on Xmas Eve (don’t they know the shops are only closed one day?).
The folks they saw whilst they were in the supermarket, shopping on Xmas Eve.

Flutternotsoshy · 10/12/2018 20:00

I work in transport. The only day we're guaranteed off is Christmas day as we shut.
Don't get extra for any bank holiday, although there is a payment for people who work overnight on New year's Eve.
Most boxing days I have to be up even earlier than normal to get to work as obviously there's no transport until we get there.

I believe that they add any bank holidays we work to our annual leave allowance.

Blankscreen · 10/12/2018 20:01

About 18; years ago my brother used to work in home base and got double pay for Sunday's and 2.5 times for bank holidays.

They also used to contract staff for hours.

Sad times for the staff and unfortunately it does seem to be a race to the bottom.

I think it might the entertainer toy shop that doesn't open on Sundays.

EwItsAHooman · 10/12/2018 20:01

I also get people saying what a shame it is that i am working boxing day

I used to get that when I worked in retail. Was always tempted to respond "well if you weren't here, I would fucking have to be!"

Original poster
Sunshinecloud6537 · 10/12/2018 20:01

Surely that is illegal to threaten someone with dismissal if they call in sick?

OP posts:
EwItsAHooman · 10/12/2018 20:01

*wouldn't

cadburyegg · 10/12/2018 20:01

YANBU. When I worked in retail I got paid time and a half, I think, on bank holidays.

I used to work for the NHS and one year worked on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day which happened to fall on a Saturday and Sunday. I didn’t get paid extra because, being on a weekend, they weren’t bank holidays. So the staff working on the 2nd and 3rd Jan (the Monday and Tuesday) got paid more than we did. It was the same for the staff working on Christmas Day and Boxing Day which were the weekend before. It was crap but someone had to do it and shift work was obviously part of our contracts. I was just glad I didn’t have to do the Christmas weekend.

Whilst there are people needing and willing to do the work, the compensation for it won’t increase.

Purplehairdontcare · 10/12/2018 20:03

While I think that shops should close on Boxing Day. Staff WILL get the day back to take some other time.

Every employee is entitled to 5.8 weeks holiday no matter what.

FairfaxAikman · 10/12/2018 20:05

When I was a student working in a VERY expensive and exclusive hotel not only did we not get any extra pay for working Christmas Day/Boxing day or NYE/Day (and you HAD to work one or the other) you were made to work a 14 hour day - you'd be scheduled for eight hours but given endless excuses as to why you couldn't leave as X, Y and Z still needed done.

EwItsAHooman · 10/12/2018 20:05

Surely that is illegal to threaten someone with dismissal if they call in sick?

Zero hours contracts. It's a case of "prove it, mate" when the employer can cover their back by saying they terminated the contract due lack of hours available or whatever.

Zero hours contracts sound great on paper. Pick and choose your hours! Work when you're available, don't work when you're not! Power to the employee! But in reality they give the employer far more control than they give the employees and it's not uncommon in retail (and other industries that use them) for manager to punish staff who has pissed them off one week by not offering them any hours the following week.

TheMarbleFaun · 10/12/2018 20:06

Very few retail workers get extra pay for working Boxing Day
The only people who want shops to open on Boxing Day are those who don't have to work in them

SkeletonSkins · 10/12/2018 20:06

But my partner doesn’t want a random day off, he wants Boxing Day to spend with family.

He’s working all days in Christmas week except the actual day. In at 6am Boxing Day. No choice, no extra pay.

HelenaDove · 10/12/2018 20:06

posted this on another thread.

Friend of mine has just been told she will have to stay late on Christmas Eve to get the shop ready for Boxing Day. For no extra pay. One of the other girls who works there has told her that last year they stayed for an extra three hours.

She is also doing Boxing Day for no extra pay.

retail workers who go in on Boxing Day end up doing it to pay for the cab fare to and from work. Because there are no buses in a lot of places

and yet while shop workers and hospitality workers are told its a normal working day cab drivers are allowed to charge double time.