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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:
Amaaboutthis · 10/12/2018 20:27

I worked in retail for years and you worked either Christmas or new year, unless you wanted to work both and everyone was guaranteed 4 days off over one of the other. I rather liked working Xmas, Christmas Eve was manic and we did have to prepare for sale before we went home but it was just one of those things. we were in early on Boxing Day and the day flew by. It wasn’t a problem

WhatsUpHun · 10/12/2018 20:28

@Unihorn
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.

Do you get 25 plus bank holidays? or in total?
www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights
Entitlement
Almost all workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday per year (known as statutory leave entitlement or annual leave). An employer can include bank holidays as part of statutory annual leave.

Working 5 days a week
Most workers who work a 5-day week must receive at least 28 days’ paid annual leave per year. This is the equivalent of 5.6 weeks of holiday.

Working part-time
Part-time workers get less paid holiday than full-time workers. They’re entitled to at least 5.6 weeks of paid holiday but this amounts to fewer than 28 days because they work fewer hours per week.

HildaZelda · 10/12/2018 20:32

I worked in retail years ago. I didn't get paid any extra and I didn't get a day in lieu either. It was just one of the days I worked that week and that was it.
I FIRMLY believe that the shops should be shut on Boxing day. Nobody actually NEEDS to go shopping that day. Retail staff deserve the day off.

DeezMutts · 10/12/2018 20:32

Back in the late 90s/early 00s I used to get triple time for bank holidays and double time on Sundays in retail. It was great. I’d always work them as I liked the money. If you worked Boxing Day in the petrol station you got triple time and a day off in lieu. Amazing. Easter weekend was the best.

Poor sods doing it these days for bugger all Shock I had no idea.

WilburforceRaven · 10/12/2018 20:32

Haahaa! So many people still stuck in the 90s here. 'Every employee is entitled to 5.8 weeks holiday no matter what.' On what planet is this? It's illegal not to pay sick pay. Again, which planet is this? Is this the one populated by people who still think there's still such a thing as 'family allowance' and 'incapacity benefit for a bad back'?

Working in hospitality and retail is crap, I thought it was common knowledge by now.

Apparently not!

Zero hours contracts, folks. Gig economy.

WhatsUpHun · 10/12/2018 20:34

Every employee is entitled to 5.8 weeks holiday no matter what.
In my restaurant (like many) holiday is earned in relation to hours worked. Contracted hours are based on a 17 week average.

well of course they are, you're not going to get full time holiday entitlement when you work part time hours, its pro rata'd
Working part-time
Part-time workers get less paid holiday than full-time workers. They’re entitled to at least 5.6 weeks of paid holiday but this amounts to fewer than 28 days because they work fewer hours per week.

WilburforceRaven · 10/12/2018 20:38

Yeah, so going to challenge your boss on that when you're on a zero hours contract and UC and see how many further shifts you get. Not that you can get legal aid for that now, anyway.

daisypond · 10/12/2018 20:39

I work in the media and we don't get any extra for working Christmas Day or Boxing Day or any bank holidays, weekends, nights, etc. If you're rostered on to work, you work it, unless you can get leave (unlikely).

DeezMutts · 10/12/2018 20:39

Well I work for a chain hotel now and still get double time for bank holidays so it’s not all shite.

Biancadelriosback · 10/12/2018 20:42

Death by rota for zero hour staff if they call in sick. Suddenly they don't have any hours and they're forced to look elsewhere as the company has no obligation to give out shifts. I've seen it happen many times.
I worked for a well know bar company who paid 1.5 for anyone working past midnight on Xmas Eve, so basically you could work a 12 hour shift, finishing after public transport finished, but still only get regular pay. Didn't make sense to us.
When I was a hotel manager, my staff had to pick either Xmas day or NYE and either Xmas Eve, NYE or NYD. It was the only way to make it fair, they pick their own shift so they can plan accordingly. Obviously it was noted that if not enough people volunteered to work then others would be rota'd on so the team really did try and keep it fair.

FunkyKingston · 10/12/2018 20:44

for manager to punish staff who has pissed them off one week by not offering them any hours the following week.

Yep, been on the receiving end of thst particular cunt's trick. For the heinous crime of talking with her ex on my lunch break.

emzw12 · 10/12/2018 20:45

John Lewis stay closed on Boxing Day - good employer!
Unfortunately if you work in retail / hospitality it kind of comes with the territory that you have to work “shifts” which include Xmas hours.
Just like nurses, paramedics, police.... can’t just expect the world to stop for a day. Now I do think though that retail on Boxing Day is not necessary but that’s a sign or the social norm we have become. But essentially if you take a job in retail / healthcare / security ... etc etc you probably have to assume you’re going to have to work the holidays at some point. Horrible but just the way it is unfortunately. There was a post on MN a couple of days ago with a woman asking why we are so outdated only opening shops 10-4 on a Sunday! Everyone did shout her down and say retail workers deserve time off with family etc.

YoThePussy · 10/12/2018 20:49

I worked in public libraries for several years. We were not allowed any annual leave for that fortnight, received no extra money for being open Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. The latter until 8pm. We were also told how many extra hours we had to work to make up for the days the library was closed. The unon NALGO did nothing, it was known as Not A Lot Going On.

We were however very grateful for our regular customers who brought us in bottles of wine and biscuits to keep our strength up.

XingMing · 10/12/2018 20:49

DS works in a 5 star hotel as a junior chef (minimum 45 hours per week, and usually closer to 70) and is doing the breakfast shift on Christmas Day, plus staff meals and will be expected to give a hand with the lunch service. He doesn't know what else will be expected over the holiday period, but when the kitchen/hotel closes for refurbishment in February, he may be 'on leave' until it's finished.

TBF, they did ask several weeks ago where/what he would like to study at their expense during the stand down but he was just starting out, exhausted, and had broken up with his GF the day before so he was negative on everything and said he wasn't committed.

On the upside, he would get another job fairly quickly, such is the turnover in catering.

HelenaDove · 10/12/2018 20:51

"Just like nurses, paramedics, police.... can’t just expect the world to stop for a day"

So if its a 24/7 society why cant i go into my bank on Boxing Day or to see a solicitor on Boxing Day if i needed to.

You cannot compare shop /hospitality workers to paramedics

why not compare them to bank cashiers instead

TheMarbleFaun · 10/12/2018 20:51

You all know what to do mumsnetters
Vote with your feet if there was no trade on Boxing Day shops wouldn’t need to open

daisypond · 10/12/2018 20:53

Yo - but Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are not bank holidays, they're normal working days for everyone. I'm working both of those days till midnight.

RandomlyChosenName · 10/12/2018 20:55

Don’t forget the tourism industry. Yes, open on Boxing Day and no extra pay either.

HelenaDove · 10/12/2018 20:56

This country has its priorities all wrong. One of the reasons people went without power for so long during the winter/Christmas storms of 2013 was because UK Power Networks gave too many staff that Christmas off and no one was on stand by.

Yet the bloody shops were still opening on Boxing Day that year in this country.

An electricity supply is a lot more important yet that priority came second.

Purplehairdontcare · 10/12/2018 20:57

How are companies getting away with not giving people their legal holiday entitlement.

Of course if you work part time you won't get the same number of days as everyone else, if you work 5 days per week, then you should get 28 days holiday. That doesn't mean that you will get 28 days to take when you like. It might be that you get 25 days, plus 3 of the bank holidays off which would probably be Christmas Day, Easter and one other. But you are still getting your entitlement.

If you work 2 days per week then you'll get 11.6 days holiday. Again this could be a mix of holiday and bank holidays.

I totally agree it sucks the way retail staff are treated, but for example, I don't work in retail, we close on bank holidays, but I only get 20 days holiday.

XingMing · 10/12/2018 20:59

I don't need to shop or bank on Boxing Day but if I had booked and paid for an expensive break in a posh hotel, I'd be miffed if no one turned up to cook my breakfast or my Christmas lunch. I don't doubt that DS will be properly paid but I doubt that it will be paid on the scale of the 1980s when I got triple-time as a casual for a few waitress/bar shifts to help out my sister.

Purplehairdontcare · 10/12/2018 20:59

I will gladly boycott shops on Boxing Day, unfortunately I think that there are too many greedy people nowadays who want 24/7 365 days access to shops

VisitorsEntrance · 10/12/2018 20:59

I used to work for a now defunct high street opticians.

There was one week, I think in November, when we used to work 6 days a week. The reason was that they closed for both Christmas Day and Boxing Day and this was to accrue the extra day off.

It was a company wide thing and they tried to make it a fun week with competitions and stuff, but it was still shitty.

concernedforthefuture · 10/12/2018 20:59

I worked for a major supermarket in the late 80s (big edge of town store). We DID NOT open on Boxing Day, nor on New Year's Day. Nobody died and it was lovely to have family time. I can't remember when it changed but it's so, so sad.

Grace212 · 10/12/2018 21:01

@HelenaDove

Glad it's not just me who remembers that. Gives me the rage. Essential services unavailable at Xmas....grr.