to think they should have at least told us this first?

[overtimewoes]

This is covid-adjacent.

I've name changed.

I work for an NHS trust. At the beginning of the pandemic my colleagues and I were asked to take on extra shifts on COVID work (i.e. not our usual job but work we are qualified to do - ENT resident working in ICU etc). These were "voluntary" (if enough people hadn't volunteered they'd have been mandatory, it was necessary work) and in addition to our contracted hours and therefore we were offered overtime, which according to the email is "time and half".

I, and my colleagues, took this to mean 1.5 times our usual hourly rate. Due to the way overtime is paid, we didn't receive any payment until the most recent wage slip. When we all received our pay, we queried it as it was A LOT less than we had been expecting (by almost half). To be told that all overtime hours, regardless of job role and seniority is capped at £16 per hour. So overtime is paid at a maximum of £24 per hour. My hourly rate is £23 per hour. So for the extra shift (12 hour per week) I am getting an extra £1 per hour.

It's not the hourly rate that has pissed me off, but that we weren't informed of the 'true' payment. I've worked well over and above my hours, for free during this pandemic, I'm not greedy and have happily been doing it, it has been necessary. But when I'm told I will be paid one thing, I don't expect to be paid another. I'd have done the shifts for my normal rate, I've worked an average of 10 hours per week for free throughout it's not the money that's the issue, it's the duplicity.

the extra money was how I sold it to DH though, who has had to work a full time job and do all the child care as I have practically lived at the hospital 6 days a week.

AIBU to be annoyed?

Yes, sorry I realised that after I'd posted. I was just coming back on to apologise.

However, in industry, people on that kind of salary don't usually get paid overtime. You're expected to do the hours that need to be done to get th job done.

I know the same has occured in my local health board. What I know from that having worked there I can put here.

Basically staff weren't aware of the cap as they hadn't read the staff handbook (very few usually do) but it is in there and on staff intranet that pay is capped. That an email was sent saying "time and a half" round everyone (by whatever groupings were decided) was the problem and the fact is people were misled by those emails, albeit they should have been aware of the board handbook which is explicit about these things.

Personally if that email was my job I'd be ensuring everyone knew about the cap, in my local health board the caps are different for different bands (just to be even more complicated!) and explicitly stated that e.g. Time and half for a band two post would be capped at £10 a hour (totally made that up!! I've no idea what the cap is for band two!).

I don't honestly know what you can realistically do. I'm not being mean saying that. All trusts/boards will have handbooks that explain caps.

Exceptional circumstances I don't know about, but to be blunt I as a rule assumed everything excluded but then Ive never trusted such statements. I know during the severe life threatening floods locally staff were told the same then and never got the extra pay they were expecting despite trying all they could (not saying you shouldn't). Those floods had never been experienced before or since and devastated the economy. Not the same but certainly most people not the NHS obviously would consider that exceptional enough.

I don't know if that helps.

Related but not nearly as bad. In one of my first jobs I was told if I wanted 1.5 x overtime I could work an extra hour every day. I did this for a month. Pay packet only paid 1x so I stopped doing the extra hour. I was pissed off to have worked on terms I wouldn't have agreed to but unlike you I was young and didn't have it in writing. The fact you already work 12+ hours for free must make the extra shift (which in essence is only paying you 0.5 pay if you factor in 12 unpaid plus 12 normal rate +£1) at a time of national crisis when you're stepping up must be galling. YANBU.

Local economy that should say!

Union definitely.

You should be paid accordingly to what was written.

Could you argue to get toil and take some well deserved time off?

www.google.com/amp/s/www.unison.org.uk/health-news/2020/05/nhs-staff-council-guidance-covid-agreements-afc-overtime-pay-england/amp/

employeebenefits.co.uk/nhs-healthcare-workers-england-paid-overtime/

WhatWouldDominicDo in my normal role, that is the case, I work over and above my contracted hours. This is not the issue. The 'overtime' is a different role, specifically recruited for and not in the same department as my usual role. So almost like a second job. It was advertised at a specific rate (1.5 times hourly rate) and rota'd separately to my usual role.

YANBU. The cap is arbitrary. It looks as though you were not informed of it. A PP has suggested the information was probably out there. Your case is going to depend on whether that information was readily available to you or not. I can understand how infuriating this situation must be.

They've made you an offer, they need to stick with it.

One trust I know of had to be pushed heavily into paying overtime: mysteriously none at all got paid in the May payroll.

I'm not even bothered about the cap, I'm bothered that it wasn't made mention of, and isn't general knowledge.

I'll see if I can find a copy of the staff handbook!

Not trying to be unfair, but I am one of those who voted YABU. My reasoning was -

To get a wage of £23ph you must be a band 8 employee. NHS Terms and Conditions clearly state that “Senior staff paid in pay bands 8 or 9 will not be entitled to overtime payments.” I do think it was unfair if they have misled you. However if your Trust went against the Terms and Conditions, that are set in stone, they would have left themselves open to other claims of unfair pay!

I also would also have expected you to be aware of these Terms and Conditions as they are an important part of you employment. You should have perhaps sought clarification in writing, before you agreed to work extra. Perhaps you could get time off in lieu, but I presume this could be difficult at the moment, as I think that has to be taken within 3 months. Really sorry this has happened to you, especially when you have helped out as much. 💐

Hadn't you read your terms and conditions at any time in the past?

This is pretty standard in most jobs, the higher your grade the less overtime is worth.

Tootsie32 I'm actually band 7 therefore the over time cap isn't stipulated for me. I'm slightly odd in my role because we were a private clinic which was taken over by the trust I now work for, which is where some of the confusion lies.

I won't be doing more overtime this month, I need a break!

Have you got it in writing or on an email that you were offered 1.5 x pay? If you have then they need to stick to it. I’d be emailing the chief executive, taking out a formal grievance, contacting the union and/or putting in a claim via the small claims court.

If you have an email quoting 1.5 times and no mention of a cap 8 would be challenging it

I don't think the point is that usually there is a cap. The point is that these volunteers were given misleading information. That is inexcusable.

However, in industry, people on that kind of salary don't usually get paid overtime. You're expected to do the hours that need to be done to get th job done.

Again, in normal times this is true (and as OP mentioned in her normal job she does this, even now) but these are unprecedented times. And these times are not over. (although i note from the OP that they asked for volunteers but it might have come mandatory so the question is how would that be paid? can you even force someone to take a 2nd job?)

Why does everyone assume OP is a nurse?

OP go to your union. This is not acceptable.

@overtimewoes Sorry, I looked up the Nhs pay rates for this year and it showed that the maximum Band 7 salary was £44,503, which is an hourly rate of £22.76?

Are you getting a higher, consolidated rate, because that was what you were receiving before your private clinic was taken over, or some sort of supplement for the area you live in (e.g. London)?

Anyway enjoy your time off. You certainly deserve a break, with the number of hours you have been putting in. Take care of yourself.

@IncredibleSulk

If you have it in writing that you will be paid time and a half and no disclaimer of a cap I would absolutely fight it. I’d start with a call to HR and involve the union that we all pay a hefty fee for.

You shouldn’t be working extra hours unpaid. It is a job, not a voluntary post.

I completely agree with this.

However, in industry, people on that kind of salary don't usually get paid overtime. You're expected to do the hours that need to be done to get th job done.

OP isn't complaining about that, but about working seperate whole shifts. If you'd be happy to go in that's up to you, it's not unreasonable though for someone who agrees to do so to want the pay that they were seemingly told they would get.

But the OP says herself that they were told that the extra work would be paid as overtime: and therefore we were offered overtime, which according to the email is "time and half"

Thanks for clarifying, @Sandybval and @overtimewoes.

Unacceptable. Take it further!