Can my employer ask me to increase my hours?

[LucyTamedOgres]

My current hours are (changed slightly for the purpose of anonymity) 4 days a week, 9am - 5pm!

My Employer has decided he possibly needs me to work alternative Saturdays, therefore increasing my hours.

My current contract states my hours and days (in the week) I’ll be working. States nothing about being able to increase hours or weekend working.

I’ve worked here for over 12 years. I would never try and work anywhere which included weekend work.

Is there anything I can do? I might have a new contract to sign soon.

Possibly pay related @TheTeenageYears

I haven’t had a pay rise for over 3 years!

Plus, I think if needs be, the technician can cover the role he came from when others are on holiday, the role which included Saturday mornings.

I would probably say to your boss something like "thank you for thinking of me with regards to increasing my hours however I am happy with things the way they are currently. If Pete (made up name) is happy to continue working Saturdays either in his new role or covering as a technician that's great but it doesn't really need to impact my role. If for example he ends up covering for a colleague on the tools one Saturday would you then be expecting me to cover him in which case my new every other Saturday becomes more frequent or the office is unmanned for a week. The former being unacceptable and the later meaning the office isn't then open every week in which case why does my job need to be impacted in the first place". Having the office manned some Saturdays could be a plus, having the flexibility of a member of staff who can cover an income generating role some of the time is also a plus but adding in paying you more for the additional Saturdays is a minus in business terms unless more income will be generated as a result.

flowery is correct, if there is a genuine business need they can force the change through. They could also restructure the business and make you redundant if there is a genuine need to reorganise the roles and responsibilities to fit a new working pattern. It's all about demonstration of business need and whether their justification can hold water. They also have to demonstrate that they tried to make it work with existing resources (i.e you) and it wasn't acceptable.

People who assume they can just dig their heels in and say no with no consequences are unfortunately putting themselves into a vulnerable position. The company has a duty to employ you in that role and the contract whilst that role is viable. Business changes and evolves so there are always routes to go down to allow the employer to adapt as required. Employee rights are to ensure you are paid, managed and consulted fairly but it doesn't always provide a handbrake.

Forcing contractual change through fire/re-hire is starting to make serious waves in employment circles. Asda have just done this, BA are in the process of it and British Gas has issued confirmation that they will do this if employees don't accept the new less favourable contract being offered.

A Scottish MP has a bill in motion to stop companies exercising this option, but the Tories unsurprisingly aren't supporting it so I don't expect to see contract protection for employees to be considered for quite some time. It basically makes a mockery of a contract, what's the point in agreeing one if the company can just force through changes they want?!

Your employer has to tread very carefully, but legally there is a way for them to force a change of contractual hours and days on you.

Best of luck with this, my contractual changes are being forced through at the moment and they'll leave me £4k pa worse off so I really do sympathise.

There has to be a way for an employer to force through change, because sometimes it is genuinely absolutely necessary to do so for perfectly good reasons.

However to force it through they need to consult fully and consider all alternatives first, and have a good business reason. If those boxes aren't ticked, they are likely to find themselves in legal hot water.

So OP if he just sacks you for not agreeing and doesn't consult and fully explore alternatives, that would be unfair. So resist on the basis he needs your consent, then hopefully he'll look into it and realise it may be possible to force it but it's not straightforward and therefore won't do it unless genuinely essential.

If change is made impossible businesses die and everyone loses their job. MPs know this so it's unlikely they will hamstring businesses at the moment or the economy will slump even further. Suspect they will go along with restructure on the basis that people will be hired into new format or roles in the future when recovery starts kicking in.

As a start just ask him to clarify what he is proposing and why - as a permanent change or a trial? I would explain that you have difficulties working weekends (make vague noises about caring responsibilities) which is why you chose a job that was weekday only. I would also make it clear that you don't want extra hours so would be looking to take a Monday off those days you were expected to come in on weekends.

Sorry posted too soon. Hopefully this will make him think a bit more about what he is wanting to do and if it really makes sense and he may back off

Just an update.

I haven’t been approached by my employer yet but can I just ask about the flexibility clause.

I can only see one clause that allows my place of work to change, nothing about hours or days. Would this make any difference to what he can force me to do?