Working Extra Hours

[mark1979]

I work at a car dealership, my contracted hours are 42.5 hours per week. I work Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 6pm (one morning I start at 8am and one evening I leave at 6:30pm). I also work alternate weekends, Saturday 8am to 5pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm.

Yesterday we had an event so we worked until 8:30pm. I just spoke with my manager about when I can have that time back and he said I can’t as I have opted out of the maximum 48 hour working week. I pointed out that is not what that means and that they cant use that to get more free hours out of me.

My contract says that I may be required to work outside of contracted hours as necessary to discharge my duties to the company under the terms of my employment for which no additional salary will be paid.

Am I entitled to take back any extra hours I work?

[ULA]

I understand that there are occasions when dealership events are held outside of normal hours to attract potential customers who find weekends/evenings more convenient.

It is clear from your contract that if you are required to work outside of your contracted hours to carry out your duties i.e. attend such an event then you will not get paid additional salary. If you are wondering whether you could claim time off in lieu, if that sentence is the only reference to working outside normal hours then the contract does not deal with this matter. However my experience would be that it is unlikely that you would be able to claim this time back.*

[mark1979]

I’d be ok if I was asked to work till 8pm if I was starting later but I worked my normal hours and then did a further 2.5 hours on top of that.*