Part time (21 hour) events manager working full time hours for part time salary £18,300

[Munichfam5]

Hi
My company was acquired by a big corporate company last year , i look after UK and France events.

Previously my hours ended up part time ish - probably a little bit more , but not consistently

in my new corporate position , the events until summer time mean i am now working 37-40 hours per week

I have asked my manager twice to be financially compensated , 1st time she said she asked but there is no budget so i just need to take time off when it’s quieter ,

2nd time i asked , she said she will ask HR again , but she said she may just have to get me some help

I am unreasonable to want to be paid for the hours i am doing ? i feel like a mug - not sure what to do if she says no ,?
Many advice appreciated TIA

Just don't do the work. Tell her you have 21 hours to fill and what does she want you to prioritise in that time. She'll soon get a solution.

Sounds like time off in lieu is unlikely, unless you can have several months off later in the year.

So either they pay you, or you look for another role!

Thanks for your post

its difficult because her standard line is - that i am responsible for all events from beginning to end any issues / wins come down to me

I have 4 big trade-shows before summer and i am just trying not to drop the ball on any of them …

i find things like this really tricky , i feel like i may need to look for another job ,,?

Are you below minimum wage with the actual hours you’re working?

You could do a flexible working application for annualised hours. When you run out of hours and stop working they might wake up.

Look for another job.

I think once you've shown you're prepared to do the extra hours then they'll just completely take the piss - and still be really surprised when you leave. I think you need to look for something else

Well yes , i’m on £8 something with the hours i am working !

I was going to suggest this. My friend works on security in an airport and his contract is annualised (as is everyone’s, I think).

Yep - totally agree - they are taking the piss

yeah - this could work , but we get busy again in august in preparation for Autumn event season …

If your company are paying you below minimum wage based on actual hours worked, they are breaking the law.

You are going to have to be a bit harder line here. You need to point out the above to them and that they run the risk of facing penalties from HMRC. When your manager says you are wholly responsible for events, you need to say flatly "that's not possible, I am only employed to work 21 hours a week, in which time I can do $XY$, I can no longer do FT hours as it's a violation of the law around minimum wage". If she comes back with the "you can take time off when it's quiet", you need to come back with "I have already worked Y% of my total annual hours, I can only work a max of Z hours a week until end of year to keep within my contract". Go in with the figures to hand.

As long as you just do the hours for no pay, she doesn't have a problem. You need to make your problem her problem, and that means taking an uncomfortable stand and no longer doing the work.

@DreadPirateRobots thanks for your post
yes , you are right , i do need to stand up to them - throw some figures at them

it’s all a game to them - like you say , they are happy for me to carry on working for free

She also insinuated i was lucky to find a position after the acquisition , as there were quite a few redundancies !

That sounds very stressful. I'm not surprised you're having to work full time.

I very much doubt that this will improve so start looking for another job now.

Meanwhile, I would write an email to my manager to say that it is not possible to complete the work in 21 hours and as you're not being paid for it you're not going to do overtime. I'd say that it's very likely that projects will fail so you are going to be sending a weekly status report.

Sometimes things need to go wrong for someone to listen. Tough lesson.

This is a good suggestion.

Mind you, I would imagine there's a reason why you wanted part time hours otherwise you'd be contracting.