Suspended for refusing to do the contracted hours.

[Dulal666]

Hi Guys,

I need some advice on what to do.

I have been suspended from work due to the fact that I don't want to work the contracted hours my company give me,

It all started 8 months ago, the company was making redundancies. I was kept on to manage the office, back then i was asked to manage the office on my own and that i will have someone with me in a few weeks to help me manage, after 5 months of working 10-12 hours a day with no breaks i got fed up and told my manager that i cant do it any more I was told to leave the business and that i was easy to replace. since then i have been working 9am to to 5:30pm till I received an email last week stating that im not working my contracted hours. I replied to that email and told them i will not be working my contracted hours until my requirements are met. So far i have worked 8 months with hardly any time off, no lunch because i dont get the chance to get out of the office, i had to miss my holiday to Magaluf because my manager couldnt get someone to cover me for that holiday.

It feels as though all my hard work over these months have gone to waste and feel very worthless because i fell into my managers words and feel cheated out of my rights at work.

Now i think its my turn to raise disciplinary action with my manager but i dont know where to start? Please help.

Thanks

D

[woofgang]

what does your contract actually say?

[Dulal666]

my contract say i work from 08:00 to 17:30 Monday to Friday.

[mccfluff]

when you were asked to manage the office on your own, were you given a new contract with extended hours?

do you work for a large co, small firm?

we have just done the same at one of the offices but all the staff have had their contracts re-issued with their new hours, holiday etc detailed.

[boxtops]

If you are in the UK (or in the EU) then I believe that the European Working Time Directive will apply and you should not be working more than 48 hours in any week anyway. There are legal entitlements to holidays and time off. Seek advice. The ACAS website is very helpful, free, and there for employee and employer - go check it out - and good luck. I am appalled that you missed your holiday, that's not your responsibility to provide your own cover.

[dotty.]

with lunch breaks that's 40 hours a week, if you work over 40 hrs a week for the needs of the buiness they should pay you time and a half for hours worked over ( I Think) 41, if you work more that (I Think) 46 hours a week compulsory they are perhaps breaking the law but I've not checked that atv all. Are they a small company?

[bednobs]

don't understand what would be so hard about working an extra hour to make it up to your contracted hours tbh. I'm not surprised they suspend you/don't want to pay you for work you are not doing tbh, although your situation does sound crap.

[dotty.]

By the way they can't suspend you for refusing to work more than 40 hours a week,

[bednobs]

of course they can if your contacted hours are over 40 a week

[mccfluff]

if you are working your contracted hours then suspending you for not doing so is unlawful, as others have said contact acas for advice asp

hope you get it worked out

[bednobs]

he/she is NOT working their contracted hours though - they are coming in an hour late every day

[Dulal666]

mccluff- yes i was given a new contract but i was told that will only be temporary i siged it because i believed that my manager was thinking the best for me but damn i was wrong, and yes i work for a large firm.

i have missed much of my personal life because of this job, i can only get cover based on the guys from Nottingham. i know i have been victimised but i just need a way of getting get at them.

[dotty.]

how can contracted hours in an office be more than 40 a week? I can understand a doctor or nurse being on call but not an office manager,

[ChuckFickens]

"how can contracted hours in an office be more than 40 a week?"

They ask you to sign a form saying you waive your rights under whatever act it is.

[dotty.]

if you get an hours unpaid break which you are taking every day then yes you are under your contracred hours, are you taking an hour unpaid every day? If not then you are working 8 and a half hours a day 5 days a week, that;'s 42.5 hours and over your contracted hours

[donna1901]

you have more or less said it all. you feel you have been victimised but the company has covered their backs by producing this new contract which you have signed! keep us updated

[dotty.]

any such form waiving your rights would not stand up at an employment tribunal if it was not a negotiated agreement, this sounds like an enforced contract and acas would not consider it legal

[craft1948]

I worked in an office and was contracted to a 42 hour week, 5 of which were paid lunch hours.......

[tamborine]

CAB then onto Tribunal at CABs recommendations

[bednobs]

well dulal obviously does -their contracted hours are 47.5 a week (although i presume they are probably actually 45 assuming a 1/2 hour lunchbreak within those times) and instead of doing their hours, they are choosing to do an hour less per day. If one of your employees continually turned up 1 hour late from what they had agreed to work, wouldn't you want some comeback?

[ChuckFickens]

my contracted hours can be over 50 per week.