To request payment for the hours they hired me because of their mistake?

[sharond101]

I did some locum work for a big company. They advertised the shift as as 9-6 and sent an email to confirm. The store closed at 5 so I had to leave at 5. This was an error on their part as it always closes then (I did not know opening times). They sent me an email today (4 days later) with an updated confirmation of the shift as 9-5. AIBU to request payment for the additional hour as that is what they advertised and I agreed to?

When my (qualified) sister was teaching my daughter to drive, she accidentally missed a THREE HOUR lesson. I had to pay in full.

The OP is a contractor, and she was contracted for those hours, so is entitled to the funds. Subject to the actual contract, obviously.

If you had two offers, one 9-5 and one 9-6, and chose the one you thought would be longer and paid more, then YANBU.

If you had to travel further to get to the longer shift, YANBU.

Those of you saying she is BU, what if they closed unexpectedly at 2pm?
If that is a bait and switch, what exactly constitutes a reasonable mistake on the part of the company?

Hahaha thanks for the laugh OP I needed that this morning.

No you can't ask them to pay you for an hour you didn't work.

Yes, they should pay you until you received the second email. If I have booked a freelancer's time, I pay them for the hours agreed regardless of whether I fill that time or not - they are on an hourly rate of up to £200 so could end up losing out on a significant amount of money.

Yep its very clear that a lot of MNers are not freelancers.

It's easy to say 'oh that hour doesn't matter' if you are in regular employment.

When you freelance, every hour counts and I would guess locum is similar - we might work flat out one week and not at all the next.

Places hire freelancers so they aren't paying someone full time, that does generally mean they will be paying a higher hourly rate to the freelancer though and will be paying for the agreed upon hours, regardless of whether work is actually done in that time or in less time.

In my business you’d be entitled to the hour as it wasn’t cancelled 24hours beforehand.

It should be in your co react how much notice you need to be given of changes

Contract

"Most companies aren't going to pay you to be sitting at home doing nothing."

They certainly do. Ever heard of garden leave?

I'm a freelancer. I probably wouldn't try and claim it if I didn't work it. Its frustrating I know, but fostering good will is probably a better strategy longer term. You never know when you might need them again in terms of jobs, references etc.

So what did you do OP?

Hahaha thanks for the laugh OP I needed that this morning.

No you can't ask them to pay you for an hour you didn't work.

Well, your post certainly didn't make me laugh. It just made me roll my eyes at the folk who choose to publicly air their ignorance on a topic (freelancing) they know nothing about.

I have just emailed off a bunch of invoices this evening, including for 3 hours I didn't work this week because client's events got cancelled at the last minute. I will be paid for those, just as I have been paid for all last minute cancellations over the last 20 years.

I wonder if an employer had to choose between two freelancers; one who bills for the hours carried out and one who bills for hours booked and not worked.

I know who I would choose in these trying times where some businesses are trying to stay afloat.

Yes, you should be paid for an hour for which you make yourself available.

@Tanith

"Most companies aren't going to pay you to be sitting at home doing nothing."

They certainly do. Ever heard of garden leave?

Yea, but I don't think that's remotely comparable to the situation described in the OP.

I worked in retail for over ten years and if I went home early for any reason my pay was docked accordingly. The only people that didn't apply to were salaried as opposed to hourly paid workers.

YABVU. You get paid for the hours you actually worked, not what you thought you were going to work.

OP I am self employed and I would charge. You have booked that time out in your diary and were available to work for the hours agreed.
I have a similar set up and often get paid for hours not worked because I have made my time available but often I am not needed. It has never been questioned and others in my profession do similar.

Point is, they booked you to work for that hour. You made yourself available. If you had small children, you would have had to organise childcare for that time. You should insist on bring paid.

I think you should be paid. I used to temp, and took a 1 day temping job at a big investment bank, 8 hours. They decided in the afternoon that they didn't need me after 7 hours and made a big point of saying 'make sure your timesheet only says 7 hours'. They booked me for 8! Still irks me and it was about 20 years ago.