can my employer do this?

[welshmammy2009]

I work for a high street retailer and my hours of work are 9 - 5.30. The store closes at 5.30 and after the store has closed I have to stay back to put the takings in the till. This usually takes till 5.40ish however if there's customers still in the shop it can take till 5.50ish. I'm only paid until 5.30 and my manager will not give me the time back. If I am late the next day because of traffic I am told to take time off my lunch even though I have worked 20 minutes over the night before.

Is my employer allowed to do this?

Unfortunately this is generally the nature of retail in my experience. I believe that officially you should get the time back, but usually you don't. Most places I've worked (all major high street retailers/banks) you have to come in at least 15 mins before the start of shift and don't leave until at least 15 mins after shift end. Does it say anything specific in your contract?

On the plus side, not sure if I've just been lucky generally with my managers, but I've always found that if you go along with it, make sure you're not late etc (leave earlier if traffic is causing you problems) once the manager realises you're willing to pull your weight they are also flexible if you need something from them eg leaving early occasionally, dr's appointments etc. only usually things with notice though, not just being late!

Not really much you can do. You can't exactly walk out on customers otherwise you wouldn't have a job in the first place! Annoying though. I used to work for a supermarket and wished they would stop people coming in the shop a while before closing.

As for being late for work because of traffic, I'm sorry but that's a bit unprofessional and it should be taken off your lunch really and if it's your regular route then you should know how long it takes in traffic. Sorry! As a one off it's probably happened to a lot of people and it's understandable but not if it happens more often.

In this day and age where jobs are hard to come by I'm afraid we need to put up with things we maybe shouldn't have to.

Yes if it is custom and practice in the workplace. If it is a new thing that has just started happening then that would be different.

How long have you worked there? And has it always been this way?

As for expecting you to make up time when you are late that is completely reasonable and you should be offering to do this not asked imo - so long as you're getting sufficient break time as required by the Working Time Regs.

The only other issue I can think of, off the top of my head, would be if the extra hours you are working mean your pay drops below the National Minimum Wage. That would not be allowed.

I should probably add that when I was a bank manager (back in the mists of time) I would give any employees who had to come in early to do essential work like emptying and processing ATM machines, setting up cash etc the time off in lieu. Cashiers who just need to be ready to go at 9am didn't get time off in lieu because they were not required to be working before 9am.

If we were detained by customers for more than a few minutes after closing then I would let people go early at other times or come in late so it evened out.

I think that the thing that bothers me the most is it always seems to be me who has to stay, everyone else get to go home at 5.30

What does your contract say about hours, overtime (paid or otherwise), or working the hours 'reasonably required' or similar?

If you're the only one who regularly stays, maybe mention this to the manager eg "I'm happy to do my fair share, but I did x days last week and was the only one who stayed".