To think DS cannot be disciplined at work for not accepting hours at work?

[Terrybox]

He is employed on a casual basis and does not have any form of contract. He has worked there for well over two years if that is relevant.

They have added him on the rota to work on Thursday without even asking him if he was free to work it. The rota has only just gone up.
He has not worked Thursday since June if that matters and has only worked weekends for weeks.

He has an appointment that has been booked for months at 4pm on Thursday very near to work and they have put him on rota to start at 4.45. He glanced at it yesterday on the work system and thought he would be okay until he realised someone else's hours were wrong and double checked and they said he would have to be there at 4.10pm.

They are now extremely angry about this because they will have to find cover and the manager is being an arse about it.

Aibu to think he has no contract, they did not ask him if he was free to work that day and they put the wrong start time down then it is their fault not his?

They can’t discipline him the joy of zero hours is thst you are entitled to say no to the work if inconvenient. The reality though is you are often punished with the rubbish shifts or no shifts at all. I’d consider a new job if I was him.

They can’t punish him but he doesn’t have a contract so the duration of working there is irrelevant. Is he paying tax/NI contributions?

I suspect he will end up with no shifts as a result which is a punishment in itself really if he is relying on the money.

A good lesson to him to ensure he always makes an employer aware of a time he can’t work when he becomes aware of it.

He has no contract, or is it a zero hours contract ?

If it’s “no contract” that’s highly illegal, and if they try to discipline him, they couid easily find themselves in a tribunal.

Anyhow … he needs to realise that you don’t have to put up with shitty working conditions, and should be looking elsewhere.

They gave him 2 days notice to work? If they want that commitment they need to give him a proper job with contracted hours. They can’t have it both ways. I get that some work is hard to plan ahead but that isn’t a business model

Is your a ds a teenager working around school college uni hours. Bring employed casually was used to be quite common at that age.

You can't really discipline a casual worker if they gave no contract...

He has no contract at all Extra. He is classed as a casual employee is all he has been told.
They have refused to give him a contract of any kind.
He does pay tax and NI.

He is looking for other work.

Yes working around uni.

It depends what you mean by disciple him because they can stop giving him shifts which is effectively firing him.

Cant discipline him on zero hours or without a contract. How an earth does he not have a contract??

Casual staff still have rights. You say he’s been working, and getting paid, by them for over two years. And he should have a written contract too. They are being arses by the sound of it. He’s defo better moving to a more professional employer.

Have they actually said he will face disciplinary action or are you just upset for him? If he is on a zero hours contract then the employer hasn’t done anything wrong. Someone on a zero hours contract is there to be used when there is a demand for them. Obviously the employee can turn the work down. The only thing the manager has done wrong is get angry about it

How do they suggest this discipline is going to take form? What they could do is not offer him any more shifts, there's not much else they can do, and that woudn't be a bad thing in the great scheme of things. There are jobs where you don't incite anger in your incompetent manager for turning down an optional shift.

He needs to look for another job as likely they’ll offer him no hours.

If he works for an employer, there is a contract. If he has an agreement to work there on a casual basis, as and when work is available and he's available, that is a contract of sorts even though it's not written down. It seems likely he'd be classed in law as a 'worker' rather than an 'employee'.

As such, he still does have some rights in law. They would include right to a written statement* of rights and responsibilities of his role; right not to be discriminated against, bullied etc.

*it's not a contract but certain information that the law says he's entitled to as a minimum;

You can telephone ACAS for advice about this kind of arrangement and worker status and his rights in law. It's a free and confidential public service. It also has a useful website where you can read up about types of work status etc. It's a complicated area of law.

He wasn’t at all unreasonable to turn down the shift.

He does have a contract, it’s just not written down. He will be a ‘worker’ or employee under employment law.

It sounds like they could well punish him by offering him fewer or no hours, he’d have little recourse, but he does have some power, eg they’d need to find others to do it or recruit.

In his situation I’d stand my ground and job seek.