Opting out of Sunday working

[mummatocubs]

So the company I work for, has an option to opt out for working on Sundays. I asked for this to go ahead yesterday due to religious commitments. Yesterday after me sending in my email they called me and I asked them to send me a email with everything stated, I haven’t currently agreed to anything, however below states other. They have emailed me they’re T&Cs for this & said the below:

The normal Sunday working arrangement at the Store where you are based rosters a colleague to work two
Sundays in every four-week period with each Sunday shift comprising six (6) hours. In the two weeks out of every four
in which you would otherwise have been rostered to work a Sunday at the Store, we will make alternative
arrangements to cover those six (6) hours to be worked by a fellow colleague.

Since you have chosen to exercise your statutory right to opt out of Sunday working, I can confirm that ‘Company’ is not
obliged to pay you for Sundays on which you do not work. Neither is there any obligation on ‘company’ to offer you
alternative hours or substitute shifts on other days as a result of you opting out. The Employment Rights Act 1996
specifically states that a worker who does not work on Sunday is not to be regarded as having been subjected to any
detriment by a failure to provide work, remuneration, or other benefits for Sundays not worked, nor is the employer
obliged to provide such work or benefits.
In the event you should subsequently change your mind, I can confirm that you can opt back in to Sunday working by
giving written notice. Your notice must be in writing, signed and dated by you, and must clearly state that you no longer
object to working on Sundays or particular Sundays. However, if you do decide to opt back in, we will not be under any
obligation to offer you any Sunday work.

I want to know if I would still have to work 40hrs and only get paid for 34? Also at this stage can I disagree and go back to working Sundays as my notice is not up yet?

many thanks

You will get paid for the hours you work.

if you opted out due to religious reasons why are you now thinking of doing Sundays?

the terms and conditions you have quoted seem very fair and reasonable

I can't see anything that says you would. What it seems to be saying is that you won't be paid for Sundays as you're not working them, and they are not obliged to give you an alternative shift on another day. So you would be working 34 hours and being paid for 34 hours.

The way I interpret this is that you will still get paid for all of the hours you work, you just might get given fewer hours overall. They are not obliged to give you another shift on some other day to replace the Sunday shifts that you are not working.

Also at this stage can I disagree and go back to working Sundays as my notice is not up yet?

But what about your religious reasons?

Ypu get paid for the hours you work. However if they dont have 40 hours for you monday to Saturday they can chose to only offer you 34 hours on the weeks you usually would habe worked a Sunday.

I opted for reasons to get back into my faith, new year and really wanted to focus and it’s Sundays that we would attend our place of workship. Why I am saying depending out what the terms actually mean & how I’ve taken it as I will still have to do 40hours and be paid for 34, financially this is going to be very difficult for us as a young family.

I don’t understand why you think you’ll work 40 hours and only be paid for 34. It doesn’t say that.

If these terms don’t suit me can I get out of the notice period as it’s only been 24hrs but as they stated doesn’t mean they are obliged to make me work Sundays potentially meaning I would be on 34hrs?

When I opted for Sundays I just thought they would put me in for 40hours elsewhere.

Read the terms again. At no point does it say you are working 40 hrs and only getting paid 34.

clearly states you won’t get paid for the Sundays you don’t want to work…

straight forward tbh

Yes, the risk is you may now not be offered Sunday hours. You’ll really need to clarify if there was a cooling off period.

I read it that two weeks a month, you will work and get paid for 40 hours. For the other two weeks, you will work and get paid for 34 hours (because you are choosing not to work the 6 hours you’d otherwise work on a Sunday)

It will depend on whether they need you for the extra 6 hours on any other days. It may be that you’re swapped with the person they have to get to cover your Sundays or they may leave you down at 34 hours… but I’d imagine it will vary depending on the week.

But for 2/4 weeks you are not guaranteed 40 hours.

I read it that you no longer will work Sundays - as you requested.

so you will work 34hrs mon-sat and be paid for 34 hours.

they COULD offer more hours mon-sat up to 40. But they don’t have to.

yes you can change your mind - in writing.

I think it’s all Sundays. Normally OP would work 2 of 4. But she’s opting out of ALL Sundays.

Would going to your place of worship 2 out of 4 Sundays have been a problem for you?

Also, are there no other worshipping times midweek?

Two weeks in four you will work 40 hours. The other two weeks you will work 34. On those two weeks they may be able to offer you additional hours but they aren’t obliged to.

They can’t guarantee I will have 2/4 Sundays off hence why I’ve had to take this route. From August - November I did 10 of 12 Sundays. I had to then highlight this and they started giving me 2 a month, however there is an employee who does no Sundays and hasn’t opted out & never gets rota’d in.

Sunday is usually a main day for prayers.

It basically means they don’t have to make up the “missing” 6 hours you would have worked on the Sunday elsewhere, so you’ll work 36 and be paid for 36.

I don’t know how you think it’s reasonable that you can opt out of Sundays so others have to pick up your share of Sundays but be given shifts elsewhere to make it up, that’s just not fair.

I can see why the OP might have originally said no Sundays but finding it's only 2 out of 4 might change her mind.
If you are Catholic there is usually a mass somewhere on a Saturday night. If in a larger Protestant church there is often an early service (at our old church there was 8 am which we went to sometimes after a bad night when our DCs were babies) or an evening service (almost always after shops have shut).
If your reasons for going to church are partly to learn about your religion and spend time worshipping God then two weeks of off-time services plus two weeks of main service might suit.
However if you are really keen to be part of a worshipping community (and the other services are small) or to teach your children about God (and the other services have no Sunday school) you might not find this helpful.

You’ll get paid for whatever hours you work. It would be legally and morally wrong for your company to do otherwise. The rest of the info relates to the hours they’ll offer you- which might be less than you’re used to in a week.

That wouldn’t be fair on your colleagues if you opt out and get your 40 hours on preferred days, I’m sure everyone would like a steady Sunday off.

I honestly thought this was the case, I’ve been at this company for 5yrs and always done majority of the Sundays. It’s only before I want to reconnect to my religion and as my kids are getting older I want them to understand our religion.

I have already said to my manager if you ever need me to do the odd Sunday I may be able to help.

I have a colleague who has not worked Sundays since August. From Jan 25 - July 25 they did 1 Sunday per month. I did the Sundays & at one point I did a 10 week stretch of Sundays! I bought this to the managers attention as I was really struggling to go to our place of workship, but told myself this year I have to be more consistent.

My employer’s policy is that if you opt out of Sundays, you drop your contracted hours by a fifth. The response you got is pretty much a roundabout way of saying that. It stops people using it as a loophole to get a weekend day off and then not having enough people to work Sundays.

I think you have explained your reasons perfectly well. If your employer is accepting this it actually is a surprise.

I don't know and it is none of my business what retailer you are with and whether or not they come under the 6 hour maximum as a large store. My opinion is that the six hours should be consistent across the country, say starting at noon.

I think it means you won't necessarily be offered other shifts in the weeks when you would have been scheduled on a Sunday, so you may loose pay, but you'll still be paid for all the hours you work.