Part time work contract

A question about : Part time work contract

Hi all I'm looking for advice.My wife has a part-time job and has been employed for 12 months. At the beginning she was told she was contracted to work 4hrs a day for 3 days a week.

The problem is 12 months on she has no copy of a contract or statement/conditions of employment.If for instance she goes to work and there is only 3 hrs work she is sent home and only paid for the 3 hrs worked and this happens fairly regularly.The owner has cut the workforce on certain days so she sometimes works 5-6 hrs rather than the 4 hrs contracted for and gets paid her hourly rate for the 5-6 hrs.

If she works the extra hours should she be paid 1 1/2 times her hourly rate (overtime) or just her hourly rate?.Is she within her rights to refuse to work the extra hours if only contracted for the 4 hrs and if there is only 3hrs work should she be paid for her 4hrs on her contract?.

It seems like her employer wants his cake and eat it, pay her for 3 hrs if theres not enough work but expect her to work 6hrs if the work is there and still no conditions of employment.

Thanks in advance Leveller

Best answers:

• Has she asked for a copy of her conditions of employment? This would be the first step.
  With regard to the overtime rate, she would need to again ask her employer. However she should be careful how she phrases this - the norm in retail/ private care work etc is that any overtime premium only kicks in after a full time week has been worked. Whilst there are exceptions to this, she needs to be careful not to come across as expecting a higher rate.
• I can't answer every point however if this was posted in the employment section (just below this one) you would probably get a speedy accurate response to every question. There isn't a entitlement to time and a half if you work more that your usual hours unless it is in your terms of employment which obviously you don't have.
• Thanks Forwandert/mynameistallullah ,she did ask a couple of months into the employment but nothing turned up and she forgot about it.It rose again when she started getting sent home early and only paid for 2-3hrs instead of her 4 hrs contract.
  Much appreciated ,I wonder if I should re-post in the employment or would a Mod be kind enough to move this thread over........Thanks again
• There's not much else to say until she has a copy of her contract/ conditions. She can take the employer to Tribunal if they do not provide it, but if she does this I would expect they would manage her out of the company pretty quickly.
  It seems that some days she is getting more hours, and others less. Is she still getting her expected hours? Be aware that if she does ask for her conditions of employment they may have her on a nil hours contract.
  What outcome would she like from this?
• Yes, she should have been provided with the conditions of employment within two months of starting there. As I said earlier, the remedy to them not providing this would be to take the employer to Tribunal, but that would not make her popular.
  She does not have to work any hours outside those that she is contracted to do. However, once/ if they provide the conditions of employment she may find a clause requiring her to be reasonably flexible, and this would include overtime.
  My advice would be to work out what she wants and sit down and talk to the employer. If there is a reason why she cannot work the extra hours, she should explain this, so they can come to a mutually agreeable compromise.
  I'll emphasise again how careful she needs to be in handling this. If the work is low skilled, it will be all too easy to replace her if she comes across as difficult. Whilst she does have some protection having worked there a year, any remedy from a Tribunal would be minimal and the hassle of having to go down that route would be great.
• Many thanks CAB rep for taking the time to post.......... regards Leveller