student having to work till midnight

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Please can anybody offer any advice. DD has started working at McDonalds recently and shifts have been ok,mainly days and early evenings. She is due back to college next week studying for A levels,and has just checked works rota for next week. Which has crap shifts for her,3 or 4 shifts over the week from 6PM till midnight. She feels this is too much when she's at college full time,and has phoned the manager to try and alter shifts. But he was pretty rude and more or less said they were the shifts and she would have to work them. DD has been enjoying the job really and doesnt want to have to leave, but we need to know if she has any rights at her age about working late shifts when a full time student. she is 17, thankyou for any advice ........

That's not good at all - my dd works for Macdonalds as well, and she has worked FT over the holidays and enjoying it, but now she is off back to 6th form next week she has reduced it to two shifts (fri from 5 - 10 and saturday from 12 - 6). I think you have to do a minimum of 11 hours a week.

Is there another shift manager she could speak to? They are normally very accomodating, dd has been able to move shifts for various reasons. It is not good that she has so many shifts for her first week in 6th form.

It unfortunate that her manager is being so inflexible, but from his point of view, she is staff and he needs those shifts covered. I'm sure she knew the opening hours of the restaurant when she agreed to work there?
It sucks, but the mgr doesn't have to accommodate her, so maybe she might be better getting a part-time job in retail as the hours may be better?

Looks like the shifts are the shifts, legally. :(

In general a young person shouldn't work between 10pm and 6am. However, exceptions are made in certain industries and catering is one of them. I think she can be required to work if no 'adult' is available to do the job. I don't know if they would class this as one of those times but I think she might be able to argue that her studies are affected.

If I remember correctly you can only ask a person under 18 to work after 10pm if their studies are unaffected by this.

Where you may have a problem is if she has signed a contract which explicitly states that shifts may vary and include late shifts.

I would call CAB and have the contract handy.

I don't get the problem.

The problem is that when she's at college full time. Three or four times a week straight from college till midnight is too much........

she should maybe find a different job

Is it likely to just be for one week? If they're usually flexible, they may simply not have realised she's back at college next week, and will make allowances after that.

I think oldlady is right - I think as she is scheduled for that week she will have to do it, but make sure she speaks to someone officially and has markedly reduced hours from then on.

Not so easy to find a different job nelly, jobs for students are like gold dust at the moment.

As a young worker she is allowed to work up to 40 hours a week but she is entitled to rest breaks. If she is working a shift of more than 4 and a half hours she is entitled to a 30 min (unpaid) break.

My advice would be for her to talk to someone about this and say that she enjoys her job but that she's struggling with so many later shifts and could she have more varied shifts if possible. So long as she is polite about it then hopefully she'll either get a positive response or at least a polite response. I would suggest she stick it out because there isn't much out there for students however if she finds that she really is struggling she should see if she can either cut back her shifts or find another job, she only gets one good shot at an education.

I think with so many people looking for jobs at the moment she should ask to work less shifts when it's late - so maybe 2 a week

Or look for a different job

Library work or shop work would have less unsociable hours

I worked for McDonald's, left recently. I was of the understanding that if you are under 18 then you couldn't work past 11pm? Will try and look on the staff website if my login still works. Maybe it's worth asking for a meeting with the manager to talk properly about her availability, its often too frantic to talk properly during a shift. when she applied for the job did she state on the application firm,the hours she was willing to work? Realistically some store managers are just totall control freaks and don't give a monkeys about the staff, in which case she could move to a different store.

Ok, just copied this from our lounge.......i was wrong though its under 17's that have to finish by 11.

What impact will the job have on your studies?
Our flexible shift system is a huge plus if you?re studying. It?s perfect for accommodating exam periods, as well as other important school and extra-curricular activities.

When you?re on board, we?ll ask you what hours you can work and which days of the week you?re available. We?ll then work round this when we?re deciding your shift. What?s more, your shift will change regularly ? probably every week ? to fit round your changing lifestyle.

At your time of life, we believe that your education should come before any work you do. So we?ll work with you to find a balance that you?re happy with. During term-time, we recommend that you work no more than two shifts a week if you?re studying full-time. We also don?t allow people under 17 to work later than 11 pm on a school night (Sunday to Thursday).

Your daughter should be able to log onto our lounge, try looking in the new starters section there is plenty of bits in there to quote back to her manager...good luck x

I used to love McDonald's night shifts.

I used to hate the people who ducked out of them because they were inconvenient

You shouldn't have it as your availability then