Pay/overtime query

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I am hourly paid and work in retail.

Our shifts are Monday-Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 10-5.

However if you are a full time worker (on a 37.5 hour contract) you are paid until six on a Sunday so you don't miss out financially.

However if you then work overtime in the week, your first hour is unpaid (as you finished at five on the Sunday).

Company policy is that all overtime above a 37.5h week is paid at time and a half.

As we are paid for a full time week if we work Sunday, is it right that the first hour of overtime we do is unpaid? It's company policy to close at 5pm on Sundays and not something we have a choice in.

It’s not unpaid though. You are paid for 37.5 hours and are therefore expected to work for 37.5 hours. Anything you do over and above the 37.5 hours you are paid for is then paid extra.

I suppose what I find unfair is that you're effectively being penalised for working a Sunday and then agreeing to do overtime.

I work Sunday's but say my colleague Anne doesn't. We're both contracted to the same hours. We both then agree to come in at 9am one day - she gets paid for that and I don't, even though I have no choice but to a) finish at five on Sunday and b) to get paid until six as a result.

If you don't work any overtime then it's fine and no issues but if you do it seems a little unfair to me that Sunday workers (who have no choice in their hours) don't get paid the same overtime as others.

So on a normal week, with no overtime, you and Anne both get paid for 37.5 hours, but you only work 36.5?
I think you have it v lucky, and shouldn't complain about the odd hour of overtime.
I do think that Anne should complain, as she is working more hours for the same pay.

”It seems a little unfair to me that Sunday workers (who have no choice in their hours) don't get paid the same overtime as others.”

But no one else has a choice in their hours either, do they? The store chooses when to open. And I imagine that if Sunday workers got paid 38.5 hours for only working 37.5, everyone who doesn’t work Sundays would kick off saying it’s not fair because they don’t have a choice to leave earlier and still get paid.

I think you should just be grateful that every week you work an hour less than those that don't do Sundays and be happy with that. I work in a job where I prefer to do Saturdays and bank holidays whereas the others don't want to work them so I do get the bonus of having shorter days when I do them and still getting a full days pay although I know I have to use a full 7.5 of holiday allowance to get a Saturday off when I would never have worked a 7.5 hour day usually as we close early

@Fredflintstonethefirst I do overtime each week and come in early to do so and don't get paid for it as a result of my working Sundays.

I haven't complained and don't intend to.

I am the manager and have staff complaining to me because of this rule - I've told them how lucky they are to get off early on a Sunday and that we could easily dock their pay by an hour per week if they want to go down that road!

” I am the manager and have staff complaining to me because of this rule - I've told them how lucky they are to get off early on a Sunday and that we could easily dock their pay by an hour per week if they want to go down that road!”

So you don’t “find it unfair” at all- this was effectively a reverse?

I see it from both sides, that's all.

I work every Sunday so when I come in half an hour early through the week to set up, I don't get paid for the first two days of doing so. However my supervisor doesn't work Sundays so when he comes in early to set up, he can end up earning more than I do if the shifts work out that way, as he's paid for every single early he does whereas I'm not.

So I'm trying to decide how that works in terms of pay scales and also fairness to other staff at the same time.

”he can end up earning more than I do if the shifts work out that way, as he's paid for every single early he does whereas I'm not.“

How does he end up earning more than you do if you get an extra hour’s pay for doing nothing on a Sunday?

Because overtime is paid at time and a half.

Essentially my first hour of overtime is unpaid because I have to finish early on a Sunday. So my first hour of overtime is counted as my final working hour of the week.

His first hour of overtime is counted as overtime as he doesn't work Sundays so he gets paid time and a half for it whereas I get nothing.

But hes already worked his 37.5 hours, and you haven't. Hes getting more pay because hes doing more hours, it's that simple.

He gets paid more because he's worked an hour more than you over the week. Yes, for that particular shift he'll get more, but not overall when you take your Sunday shift into account.

You said earlier that overtime is only time and a half if it takes you over 37.5 hours for the week?

On a pure maths basis, it's not fair to the people who don't work Sundays.

my first hour of overtime is unpaid

No it's not, you get your usual hourly rate for it.