DH having some problems at work, can someone with HR knowledge advise please.

[littleducks]

DH agreed to work 25/26/27/28 Dec (so xmas weekend and bank holidays) and also 1/1.

His manager said he would be paid extra for these and get a day of in lieu for each. His work is normally open 7 days a week, and he works all 5/7 with one day off midweek if he is working one weekend day.

Come January messages were sent round from HR stating that the Sat and Sun were the bank holidays and no days off in lieu would be granted for working the mon and tue.

So dh had worked all four days to cover for others to see their family etc. but now is being told that he wont get any benefit for it. The manager is surprised, he had to redo all time sheets for payroll so wages went down.

He went back to manager after email quoting the directgov website stating that the 27/28th were the xmas bank holidays. He was told that the website was wrong and did not account for business which operated 7/7 days with shifts.

Who is right?

Also, is there a legal ruling about when lunch breaks should be? It used to be lunch was taken whenever (as long as enough staff in office to cover and not within first or last hour of shift) arranged casually. Now there is a formal lunch rota going round which sends people for a lunch break sometimes just 2 hours after their shifts starts. People have complained but been told its tough luck.

It's all in the contract.

Places I've worked for had any 5 from 7 days working. Bank holidays were normal working days.

If he was told he would get pay + lieu day for those days he should get it if the manager has the authority to sign that stuff off and if he got it in writing.

What does his contract say about BH working?

As for the lunch break thing as long as you don't go longer than 6 hours without a break that's it. Having the break at the start of the shift is a little rotten though. Can your DH not explain this is pissing people off hopefully they would see sense.

I have asked him to pull out his contract to check the details.

He didnt have to work the bank holidays. He volunteered after being promised days off in lieu. I am p**d off that this has all come out now when its too late for him to say that he wouldnt work.

Work say that the sat and sun were bank hols and are giving a day off in lieu for these but not the mon and tues. I though bank holidays were defined by the gov and so were the mon and tue.

The lunch thing is being implemented after an internal promotion, alot of people are sending out their CVs at the moment as it hasnt gone down well.

But does it matter which days it was? He's still getting two days in lieu. Or was he expecting to get four days off?

He was told four days off.

He would have only been sceduled to have worked one otherwise

And he had booked all the days off in lieu already and they have now had to be converted to A/L.

This led to confusion at my work as well, but this is how it works:

You're entitled to two bank holidays for Christmas and 1 for New Year. This year, because they were all in weekends, most people got Monday/Tuesday and the next Monday off as well. This is to ensure people who don't normally work weekends still have their bank holiday allowance.

If your husband would have received 4 days in lieu for working all 4 days, that would mean he had received double the amount of bank holidays, which isn't right. He should get 2 paid back (through Time in Lieu or overtime), the rest are part of his normal contracted hours.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks for the clarification Ciske

Guess we just got a bit screwed this year then!

Will be a lesson to remember though and i will tell him to make sure not to volunteer to work at easter/wedding bank holiday then.

He was one of only four people to work out of the whole office on those days so it was beyind skeleton staff iyswim. His volunteering to work meant that others got the days off.

It sounds like the fault is with your DH's manager for not giving out the correct information in the first place. However, he probably was genuinely confused and didn't do it on purpose.

I can imagine you're annoyed though, I would be!