moral and legal advice needed for work situation - long

[AmITooHonest]

I would very much appreciate some views on a situation I currently have at work.

A few months ago, I cut back my working hours to be able to spend more time with my baby every day. I chose not to cut back my responsibilities at the same time, and offered to work "flexibly" when necessary. This has frequently meant that I have worked more hours than my contract. However, this is a feature of the industry in which I work and I have still felt that I have been spending more time at home than I would have done otherwise. Also, I have built up a "credit balance" of additional hours worked, so when I have needed to take time off for, say, baby illness, it has been no problem.

Appraisal time has come and gone and I have done well - despite working fewer hours I have achieved all my objectives and the boss is pleased.

The thing is financially I am starting to feel a little short changed. I am doing the same job for less money, and am doing it well to boot. In addition, my responsibilities increased substantially when I returned from maternity leave, but pay increases in our firm are always in arrears - in the sense that they occur annually so regardless of when you step up to a nwe role you will still have to wait until the annual round of pay increases to get the increased salary. So not only am I doing the same for less, it is actually quite a lot less given my current role.

I have made this argument to my boss, but our company's policy, given the current economic climate, is absolutely no payrises for anyone at all regardless of performance. He has suggested that we tell HR that I am moving back to full time work, enabling me to at least move back to full time wages, but he will allow me to continue to work fewer hours.

My dilemma - finally, thanks for staying with me - is that although dh is telling my to grab this chance with both hands (boss has offered it three times now) - I am feeling rather uncomfortable, for the following reasons:

Doesn't seem fair to other members of staff (although what everyone gets paid is a closely guarded secret - so who knows?)

What if my boss moves on?

Could I get sacked for this if the powers that be found out?

Would I be able to stick to my shorter hours with the same resolve, knowing that I'm being paid for full-time?

OTOH - it's not often that an opportunity like this presents itself and we could do with the money.

Would be very grateful for mumsnetters views - would this be morally and legally acceptable?

Thanks in advance.

Yes, yes ,yes. Take it.

As a working mum, achieving your goals, doing well etc. clearly you are valued enought to be offered this deal. Finally, someone has understood the meaning of efficiency and is offering to reward you appropriately.

If you sniff trouble ahead, deal with it when it happens. I wouldn't feel bad at all. Good Luck.

If you are working more hours than your part-time contract by working flexibly, you are entitled to be paid for it. Seems to me that you should be paid for your full-time hours with your contact reflecting your flexible way of putting the hours in. In other words taking advantage of flexitime which is not immoral or illegal. Another way of dealing with in is by having an annualised contract which means that you log all your hours when they are worked and at the end of the year they should equate to full-time hours over 52 weeks. Some weeks you may work more hours than others. Flexitime by any another name!

Hmm. I wouldn't worry too much about the moral aspect- you've said you're doing a full time job in terms of fulfilling your objectives etc so I don't see why your wages shouldn't reflect that even if your actual hours are less than some of the others. Also wouldn't worry about being fair to other staff if there is not a culture of openness about what people are paid. Perhaps some of them are being paid more than you already! Even if not, I think this is an every woman for herself type of thing- it's just the way these sorts of places work. However, I do think there might be problems if your boss were to move on since presumably your contract would stipulate full time hours and a less understanding replacement could try to force you to stick to these? Very much doubt it would be a sacking issue but it might lead to some awkwardness. Would it be totally impossible for your new contract to reflect your boss' suggestion so that it was accepted that you are doing a full time job in terms of objectives and workload but that your hours remain flexible? I think it would be a really good idea to have something in writing if at all possible.

In your place, I'd take it. You've been unquestionally dedicated and loyal to your employer and your boss has recognised your contribution by both promoting you and allowing you to work flexibly. This redresses the unbalance you are experiencing at the moment.

To cover yourself, maybe you could seek to clarify the position via e-mail, so that you have a written record that your boss has agreed this if he leaves.?? Also, as far as HR are concerned, you could well be working at home, plus it sounds as though you are effectively doing a full time job anyway, even if the actual number of contractual hours are officially less than full time.

I don't think you'll be sacked if senior mgt/HR find out, if you can prove that your boss has agreed it. I don't think you'd be sacked anyway, but you might have a bit of hairy time if you boss had left or wouldn't back you up.

Wouldn't this be a temporary situation anyway - when it comes to a time when the company is in a position to sort out pay, you could get this all put on a 'legitimate' footing. Maybe you could get your boss to agree this in the e-mail?

Legally, I can't comment - I expect that if they really wanted to, your employer could say that you were contravening your contract, but unless they are hugely draconian, I would expect that the worse that could happen would be disciplinary hearing. It is hard to say without knowing the culture of the company. Do you know any sympathetic HR people? (pref not working at the same place!). If you were really worried, you could speak to Citizens Advice.

Only you can really know whether you will be able to stick to your shorter hours - I know it's hard...maybe make a date with yourself at a certain every day to stop....and stick to it!

Just for your info, I worked in HR for a short time, and you'd be amazed the differentials in pay, terms, etc, so don't feel bad. I'd go for it!

If your boss wants to pay you more, he obviously thinks you're underpaid as things stand. As long as you can trust your boss to not pressure you into extra hours at moments when you really can't do them, I'd go for it.

I can't believe that the company will only give a pay rise annually, what is they take on a new employee, do they tell them that they cannot pay them until the new financial year, if you have an increase in responsibilities then you deserve to be paid for it, I don't see there is much of a difference. I would take the offer and as said try to get this written down, until you can get a rise. Good Luck

agree - take the offer, but try to get something in writing from your boss. And, don't broadcast your new deal to otheres - not that you sound as if you would. I tried to negotiate a flexible time deal in a past job and came up against some initial jealousy from colleagues until I had proved that it was not an easy cop out. With hindsight I would have been far more evasive when colleagues asked questions about my terms of contract.

Above all, think of yourself as a flexitime pioneer at your office. You have already proved you can perform your job very well working less hours. Give it time and your example could help change company culture, making it more acceptable in the future for others there to balance family commitments with work.

Sorry to be the dissenter but I wouldn't take the offer unless I was sure I wanted to go full time again. Obviously this may not happen to you, but I know with me and my job, over time both me and my boss would start to treat my hours as full time - things like the hours in lieu you have built up - would you still feel you were able to do that? I could see how it would work short term, but I bet long term it would be much harder.

Are you 100% sure your boss is offering this to you because there really isn't another option and he thinks you should get paid more, or could it slightly be the easy option for him? I am concerned that you have been given considerably more responsibility without actually giving you a promotion. If a pay rise is really not possible, are there other things you might like instead - getting rid of some of the boring sides of the job, an assistant, a better job title etc? It seems to me you should get something in return for more responsibility (other than just being expected to work more hours). Will you actually get a pay rise at some definite point in the fuure or might you have to wait for better economic times?

Good luck with your choice.

in my line of work it seems quite common for part-timers to be paid more as a WTE than the actual days they are expected to be present - in recognition of the extra hours spent at home etc. So for example a colleague works three days (officially) but is payed 0.75 WTE. So I don't think there is any particular legal or moral issue in principle. However, I expect it would FEEL harder for you to feel entitled to work fewer hours - and it would certainly be easier for your boss's expectations to rise unrealistically. You would become 'a fulltimer who does some of her hours at home' rather than a part-timer. But perhaps you are already the former in effect, in which case you are simply being appropriately rewarded. HTH!!

amitoohonest, I wrote you a long reply last night and then my pc crashed. How annoying! What it said though roughly was:

• Don't agree to full time hours if you're not going to do them - you could be held to them at some point and you will have agreed to them in writing
• Sounds to me as if you would end up working longer hours if you were being paid for them because you would feel you ought
• You are doing THEM a favour as you are doing the same job for less money! If your responsibilities have increased then so should your pay imo. So I suppose I agree with Phillapat, no time to write more but may come back later.