Customs and Practice

[aaronpaprock]

I work Part time at a gym and have been for the last 3years now ever since ive started i have done over my contract, which was 16 hours - 2days per week. i have ended up doing 3days 24 hours per week, with things with the way they are all of a sudden my hours have been reduced to my contract of 16 hours, after working constantly over my contract for 3years. where do i stand in terms of getting those hours back if at all?

[buildersmate]

Have I got this right.
You've been working more than your contracted hours without extra pay for more than 3 years and now you are asking whether you can have time in lieu for all those extra hours worked?

[factor-fiction]

It may be that aaranpaprock has been paid for the extra hours and is now querying whether the employer is entitled to reduce his working week (and his pay) back to the initially contracted rate.
If that's the situation, buildersmate knows his stuff in this area.
Have you been given any notice of the change?
One problem with working additional hours so regularly is that you have probably lost out on holiday entitlements as they are usually based on lower contracted hours

[aaronpaprock]

i have been paid for every hour that i have worked, but yes i am questioning whether the employer is able to change my hours of work back to my contacted amount after doing over for so long and consistantly without a notice period or being consaulted just told. regarding my holiday it was adjusted to my 3days a week that i worked, so my holiday entitlement went up from a person who was working 2days a week to someone who was working 3 so again in my holiday i was getting paid for 24hrs and not the 16 i was contracted 2

[buildersmate]

Your contractual employment terms can become altered by implied terms. An implied terms is one that isn't written down but is understood to exist. 'Custom and practice' situations that run over a period of time can create an implied term - which is what you are asking.
However I suspect that your contracted hours were given to you soon after you started work - they should have been in a Written Statement of Employment particulars which employers are duty bound to give to employees within 2 months of starting work. However useless employers don't always know this or comply.
So the answer is that if you've been given something that says you work 16 hours in writing, then your terms haven't changed just because you've worked a lot more in the last 3 years.

[aaronpaprock]

ok thanks, ive been told from some one that tho it hasnt been put into writing, the fact that i did regular hours over my contracted amount on the same days for so long it becomes an implied part of my contract tho not written down and the fact that they gave me holiday entitlement for some one doing 24 hours 3 days a week and not 16 hrs 2days a week. i understand that they are able to change my hours but after being consulated and have a 90 day notice period????