To think zero hour contract shouldn’t be as long as they need you?

[cherryheart]

Dh works zero hour but he’s been there many years and has always done full days but his days don’t have a finish time and lately they have been long.
He went in at 7am and is still working now and he’s on another job which he’s not due to arrive at until 8pm the job will take about half an hour and then he has an hours drive back to the office where he will either be allowed to clock out or if another job has come in he’ll be back out.
He loves the job but he left before his kids were up and they will be in bed when he gets home, he’s had no dinner and has no idea when he will be home which also means he can’t make any plans for the evening because he doesn’t know if he’ll be back.
I know there are people that work long hours but he doesn’t want to be out working 14 hours +
His days weren’t always this long but it seems they can’t get the staff and every time someone leaves there just another man down so the team have more and more jobs appointed to them.
Surely nobody can be made to work endlessly.

A relative has a zero-hours contract so I knew this already, but double-checked-
"A zero-hours contract is an employment agreement where an employer has no obligation to provide a minimum amount of work, and the worker is not required to accept it. Workers only work as needed—often used in hospitality, care, and events—but retain basic statutory rights like the National Minimum Wage and paid annual leave."
It sounds like the business needs to change the set-up to conventional contracts.
Working without breaks and for very long stretches, I'm pretty sure is illegal.

I’m not sure about the legalities but he does get a tea break a half hour lunch break but sometimes not until 3 or 4 o clock by which time he’s been working 8 or nine hours and is starving.
It is a well known franchise though.

He just says no and goes home. He is just as allowed to turn it down. What’s the risk when they’re the ones desperate for staff ?

What would happen if he said no I’ve been on since 7am and I need to get home? Admittedly it’s been a long time since I did zero hours but it was always an offer of work and you could say yes or no, and I’d always be told the hours up front which were usually 8-9 hours with a 1 hour lunch break.

You say he has been working for this company for many years, so presumably they value him. Why does he not ask for a proper contract, with set hours, holiday pay and enrolment in the company pension scheme?

Has he looked into finding proper employment elsewhere?

As it is, it seems he could be let go with little or no notice if the company decides they no longer need him.

He should be having a break after 6 hours, that is far too long to go, especially in this heat and legally.

Good news is these contracts are going to change hopefully next year.

No. I had a zero hours contract when my DSs were little as DS1 has ASD & I couldn’t predict from one week to the next how well he’d go into school, stay in school etc.

I worked in community care & it just meant that I had no obligation to work a minimum amount of hours in a week but similarly, the employer had no obligation to give me hours each week.

In reality, thanks to the nature of the industry, I always had work when I wanted it but it didn’t mean I had to stay out from
7am to 11pm (our operating hours) if the employer wanted me to.

zero hour contracts shouldn't exist.

Done right, they can work. The problem is usually when the employer expects all the flexibility.

OP your DH needs to read up on his employment rights and possibly seek advice from ACAS. I hope he's being paid properly for all this work?

On a zero hours contract he has the right to turn down work. Eg, he should be able to finish now and especially not take any new jobs today. He also has a right to a later start so he has 11 hours rest between shifts.

There could be several reasons for his long working hours, eg fear he could lose his job if he turns down work, workaholic or martyrism or he could prefer working to being at home so its worth talking to him about this.

It really depends on the company but also on the coordinators. I was told by a friend before I started working in care, to not let them take the piss because they will.
Zero hours is 'supposed'to work both ways, and I did have to remind them of that at times.

There needs to be balance and he needs to be able to say no if it's too much

I don’t know that I agree with that completely. I loved it as a student as I could work as much or as little as I wanted to- big exam week I wouldn’t work at all, holidays I’d do near enough full time and could get time off whenever I wanted with no issues. It was loads better than being contracted for 15 hours a week as I was in my previous student job but that’s because the ‘zero hours’ worked both ways as it’s supposed to. OP’s DH’s company are taking the piss though if he can’t say no to hours after he’s already done a 12 hour shift and has been on zero hours doing the same role for years. They’re really best for temping sort of work when neither party want anything fixed.

He should push back. Technically, if he’s on a zero hours contract he is absolutely within his rights to refuse work. It sounds as if the manager is taking him for granted and the scenario of working excessive hours has become routine. Zero hours casual contracts are due to be changed in 2027. I’m on one and can’t wait, although I am looking for permanent roles anyway. You can easily get taken advantage of in these jobs and there is no sick pay or pension.

Zero hours works both ways and he is entitled to decline and leave. Sounds like he's likely working over 50 hours too.

It’s always worked for 7+ years he’s happily started at 7 and finished about 4 or 5 but every time someone leaves they don’t replace them and so there’s just more to do.

They are not flexible enough to let him go while there’s still jobs left and the other staff would moan as they would all like to do that, even every other Saturday is mandatory unless you find someone to cover but Saturday is only meant to be a half day or so he was told at interview but he still doesn’t finish until after 4 so EOW he’s working 6 days, also booking holiday is a nightmare as they don’t approve it for weeks, he chose this set up because he liked being able to take time off unpaid as one dc has disabilities and needs lots of appointments and additional care so obviously he can go in occasionally and say I need to be done by this time for this appointment but that’s not very often and only with a good reason but he’s still had a disciplinary about this although it was years ago but lately he’s just exhausted.

It’s becoming a case of people being bitter if someone gets to go home before them which is making it quite toxic but instead of looking at the managers the staff are turning against each other because they won’t come in on their day off (Saturday) or stay later to help others out.

Looking for another job may be the answer but there’s flip sides to think of with pros and cons and he likes the job but he doesn’t manage well with the hours and there’s a lot of driving between jobs where he says he’s trying not to fall asleep.

He should look elsewhere, it sounds like it’s impacting his quality of life and he deserves to be treated better in his workplace.

I do Bank nursing which is basically the same as zero contract hours. I work mainly across one particular team.

as others have said they’re invaluable to some. I’m freewheeling to retirement, with no major bills and healthy savings so don’t need to work ft. I get the freedom to work for as many hours I want.

however my shifts are specified hours with breaks. And I still pay towards my nhs pension.

I work in care with a zero hours contract because it works for both me and my employer. However the reason it works is because we both want the flexibility- she doesn’t want to have to pay me if they don’t need me that week or need me less, I don’t want to have to commit to the same hours each week when childcare and my partners shifts mean I would struggle to work them sometimes.
So we discuss a few weeks ahead what she needs and what I can do then come to an agreement. She will sometimes text me and say ‘could you work on Friday’ or could u start earlier or stay later for instance and I say yes or no. The flexibility has to go both ways though. And I always arrive at a shift knowing when I’m starting and finishing.
No way would I be agreeing to work with no definite finish time.

This isn’t a zero hours contract… if they’re saying there are mandatory days and hours he has to do and disciplining him for not working then he is an employee. They’re scamming you.

Agree!! Shouldn't need to book holidays either, thats the whole point of zero hours contract that you have total flexibility to work or not! Are they paying him for holidays? I'm on zero hours contract and I get paid legal requirement of annual leave added to my monthly wages. It suits me as am retired, I don't want regular hours nor to have to book holidays, i just can go when i want and no arguing over who works xmas😂 but gives me a bit of extra money.

Yes he gets paid some holiday pay, I think he earns a day every so often and can accumulate it that way so the more hours worked the more holiday he builds up.

For some people, ZHC are exactly what they want.

My OH retired (very) early and decided to instead do some PT work.
The first job he had was ZH and suited him and the company just fine for nearly 18-months but they then said they were putting him on a contract "as it would be beneficial for him" but from then on he would be contracted to work a few hours a day, several times a week instead of the ad-hoc set-up which had worked so well.
He left and the company struggled to get anyone to take on the role, the last we heard it was still being covered by existing, FT staff.

He went to another ZH role and again, for more than a year it has been working great but now they want to put him on a contract to "gaurentee he gets a decent number of hours every week" so it looks like he will be leaving there soon.☹️

For SOME, a ZHC is exactly what they want.

It’s his Saturday to work today and he is nowhere near finished so even a “half day” and he’s unlikely to see the kids.