Need Advice

[Linnet]

I've been in my job for 4 and a half years. I don't have a contract and have never had a contract, never seen one never signed one.

For the past 2 years I have worked 20 hours 30 minutes per week Monday to Friday and been paid 22 hours. The extra 1 hour 30 minutes is to pay for 2 Saturday shifts that I work every 6 weeks.

Because I have been paid for 22 hours every week for the past 2 years can my employer now make me work 22 hours per week Monday to Friday even though the most I've ever worked Monday to Friday is 20 hours 30 minutes?

I should mention that it's a job share position and the other person does the other hours every week and we are now supposed to share the saturday shift which means we have to work one saturday each every 12 weeks.

Seeing as I don't have a contract stating what hours I am supposed to work can they make me work the 22 hours Monday to Friday as that is what I've been getting paid?

anybody know?

bump

Linnet,

Although you don't have a written 'contract' stating your terms and conditions of employment, you do have a contract of employment with your employer. It is based on terms incorporated by employment legislation, agreed verbally when you started employment and subsequently over the years, and terms implied by yours and your employers actions and by custom and practice. Because nothing is written down it can be a bit difficult establishing what's what when it comes to any discrepancy - and sometimes where there is a discrepancy the issues end up getting resolved at Employment Tribunal.

You have a right to receive a Statement of the terms and conditions of your employment and your employer really should have provided you with one without you even asking (if only to protect themselves).

Unless your "contract" expressly states otherwise (which it won't since you don't have one!), your employer does not have the right to unilaterally vary the terms of your employment. There are ways that terms can be changed - mutual agreement is the most common where there is no express contractual term - but there are steps that need to be followed to do this.

Before I can help you with your specific question, it would be useful to know a bit more about the old and new circumstances surrounding your Saturday working partterns and the job share arrangement. So I have some questions:

1. When you worked one Saturday in 6, were your average weekly working hours 22 per week over the 6 week period? It would be useful if you could detail exactly how many hours you worked each week (i.e. week 1: x hours; week 2 x hours ..... week 6 x hours).

2. Under the 1 in 12 Saturday working arrangements, what are your average weekly working hours over the 12 week period? Again, it would be useful if you could detail how many hours you worked each week (i.e. week 1: x hours; week 2 x hours ..... week 12 x hours).

3. How did the change to your Saturday working pattern emerge? Was it as a result of you requesting/agreeing a job share arrangement?

4. Why is your employer looking to make changes? Is it because they believe that you are working fewer hours now than you are being paid for?

Where hours vary according to an establihsed pattern like yours, it is quite common for an employer to pay for the average hours worked each week rather than vary the pay every 12th (or 6th ) week.

At the end of the day, if you are not happy with the changes your employer is making, you could complain to a Tribunal if you believe they are acting unlawfully. However new rules introduced last year mean that the parties are expected to try to resolve the dispute before presenting a claim to Trubunal so you would need to present a grievance to your employer. There is a bit of a Catch 22 though for you because your employer should (in the Statement of your terms and conditions of employment which you haven't got), give you details of how to take out a grievance! If you are intending to complain to a Tribunal (or wish to reserve your right to do so), even though they haven't detailed the procedure I would advise you to put your grievance in writing to the most appropriate person (your manager, 2nd line manager, HR or a director) and then if they don't follow the statutory rules in dealing with your grievance, this then strengthens your position when presenting a Tribunal claim.

you're best to contact acas. when my ex employer tried to change my hours from 9-5 to 8-5 acas told me it didnt matter whether i had a written contract or not, they couldnt do it. i dont have a clue how it would work with your hours though.

sorry cross posted!

Smw9927, I shall start right from the very beginning, which may make this rather long but if you know the whole story it should make more sense.

when the job was advertised and I applied 4 and a half years ago it was advertised as a part time position. When I went to the interview I was told it was actually a jobshare position. This was fine I didn't have a problem with that. I got the job and was sent a letter stating that I got the job of part time XXX (job share).

Over a 3 week rota I worked
Monday 4 hours, Wednesday 4 hours and Friday 6 hours. This amounted to 14 hours working and I was paid for 15 hours. the extra 1 hour pay was put towards the saturday shift that I worked once every 6 weeks. So over the 6 weeks I was paid 6 hours extra (1 a week) to pay for the saturday.

Q1, over 6 weeks I worked the same days and hours.

The other girl worked all day Tuesday 9-5, Wednesday9-5 and Friday 9-5 and also did one Saturday in 6. She would have worked 21 hours a week but been paid 22 hours again to pay for her saturday shift.

2 years ago the other girl took up an additional post so she dropped her Tuesday shift and her Saturday and I picked them up. She still worked all day Wednesday and Friday but no Saturday.

I then worked Monday 4 hours, Tuesday 6 and a half hours, Wednesday 4 hours and Friday 6 hours. This amounts to 20 hours 30 minutes. I was paid for 22 hours every week, the extra 1 hour 30 minutes going towards the two saturday shifts that I now did. I would work 6 hours on one Saturday and 3 hours on the second Saturday.

Q1, Again over the 6 weeks I worked the same days and hours every week.

Q3, this also answers number 3 as I picked up the other girls hours so it was a change in hours for me.

Incidently although I had to fill in a form for the payroll department asking them to pay me for 22 hours per week I was never sent a formal letter saying "your hours have now changed"

At the end of September my Jobsharer left. I asked if I could work 3 full days and the new person could do the other hours. My line manager said this would be fine and asked me to write down which days I would do and which hours and also to write down the days and hours that the new person would do.

I suggested that the new person work my original hours of monday, wednesday and Friday plus one saturday in 6. and I would do my old job sharers hours of Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and one Saturday in 6. I put down that I would do 9.15-5, so that I can drop of my dd at school on the way to work. My line manager approved this and it was sent up to the big boss. She also approved this and it was then as far as we know went to the staffing department and the job for the new person was advertised.
The only problem is that nobody checked the hours added up. To do the hours I suggested I need to lose some pay and this should have been transfered to the new persons job. I didn't realise this at the time. The reason for this is because my old jobsharer never started at 9am she was always in by 9.15 which is what I thought her hours were and is why I suggested a 9.15 start for myself.

The new job was advertised and a person has now been employed but there has been a huge mess up. Apparently because it's a job share position we should NOT both be working one saturday in 6 each we should be sharing the one in six and therefore doing one each every 12 weeks.

It wasn't advertised as a job share position and the new persons letter states part time position.

She has been given a contract which says that she is to work 15 hours per week. It doesn't mention Saturday shifts at all.

It would seem that the Staffing department think I work 22 hours Monday to Friday. I'm a bit worried about this because our work pay scales were upgraded earlier this year. When it went through everyone was sent a form to sign. I have realised that the letter that accompanies this says that "your hours of work are 22 per week" I didn't pick up on this at the time and I signed the form because I have always been paid for 22 hours per week and so thought this was correct.

I feel that since my line manageer agreed to the hours suggested as did the BIG boss that they should really stand by this. Someone somewhere should have checked the hours added up correctly. But I'm not sure if legally I can insist on them honouring the hours agreed.

If you have managed to get to the end of this and make sense of it, thank you.

And I welcome any advice.