Payment fior weekend work.

[geoffrey]

A young lady has recently started work with a branch of a multiple superstore. She is compelled to work most Saturdays, Sundays, Public holidays and some evenings. Though she now realises that she should have checked beforehand, she assumed that she would received the usual time-and-a-half for Saturday work and double time for Sunday and public holiday work. However, her pay was that of the National Minimum Wage. No enhanced payment was made for Saturday work and Sunday and public holiday work including Boxing day is paid for at an enhanced level of base rate plus 25p per hour. The only thing about it in her contract was that wages are paid at or above the National Minimum Wage level and Sundays and Public holidays are paid at an enhanced level. the only figure stated is her base rate. Is this legal?

[davec1960]

Re: Payment fior weekend work.

Why wouldn't it be legal?
The contract says she will be paid more for sundays and bank holidays and they have done that.

Larger enhanced sunday payments were common when sunday trading became legal for big stores, but over the years these have slowly dissappeared as new starters were brought in on different contracts.

[teaboy2]

Re: Payment fior weekend work.

Looks perfect legal to me too.

Your not entitled to public holidays off as a right, your entitled purely to calculated holiday entitlement. For example if you work 5 days a week full time, your entitled to 5.6 weeks per year which is 26 days. Whether the employer includes bank holidays as part of your 26 days or in addition is up to them!

Overtime pay is also discrentionary, as they is no law requiring the employer to pay above an employees hourly rate for additional hours they work. Weekend hours, if they fall under your normal working hours, are also deemed normal contractual hours. So their is no law requiring the employer to pay overtime or enhanced rates for weekend hours, or indeed additional hours worked during weekdays - Its purely discretionary!

You can however opt-out of Sunday working if your a shop worker or betting worker. Though you must give written notice under section 40 of the employment rights act 1996 stating that you are giving your 3 months notice that you wish to opt out of working on Sundays! Once you have given that notice, you must still work Sundays during the 3 month notice period, but once the notice period is up, you are legally entitled to not work on Sundays. If the employer ignores your notice or tries to get you to work, then they are in breach of rights, under section 40! Though bear in mind, should you opt-out, the employer is not required to give you hours on different days of the week to make up for the ones you have lost by opting out of working sundays!

[jon1965]

Re: Payment fior weekend work.

Perfectly legal . There is no requirement to pay enhanced rates for sat or Sunday working. In fact 30 years ago when I was a teenager I only got basic pay for hours worked on a Sunday , the princely sum of £1.66 an hour