Bank Holidays forced to work when not contracted?

[jamesyboy]

Hi all just after a little advice. I work for Asda and i'm contracted to 28 hours. My contract states that i'm required to work all bank holidays if needed. I'm contracted to Mondays so i expect to work bank holiday Mondays. I'm not contracted to work Fridays. I've just viewed my rota today and they've put me in for 7 hours on Good Friday. I've told them i don't want to work it and as i'm not contracted to Fridays, i'm under no obligation to work it. They are saying that as it states in my contract that i may be required to work all bank holidays that i am obliged to work it.

Anyone know the legal position on this? Surely they can't force me to work on a day i'm not contracted to, bank holiday or not? They haven't even offered me another day off so this will take my hours that week to 35 when i'm only contracted to 28.

Any advice much appreciated.

[Mr $quandaŁot]

Re: Bank Holidays forced to work when not contracted?

Oh dear, if only you were in Germany, Finland or most other European countries this wouldn't be an issue as stores are not allowed to open on Good Friday in those countries - something that's unlikely to chance in a hurry!

Are you on a zero hour contract? If so, they can't force you. However, refusing work when offered may not work in your favour.

If you are on a permanent contract and you have signed a contract which states you may be required to work bank holidays, it will be trickier and the best advice would be to negotiate.

Of course, you could say that you're not going to be available for religious reasons - would work for most religions but not necessarily when it comes to Christianity.

You just reminded me why people hate Walmart!

[Mr $quandaŁot]

Re: Bank Holidays forced to work when not contracted?

Looks like bad news:
http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/ban...-need-to-know/

[ostell]

Re: Bank Holidays forced to work when not contracted?

The query is that his contract does NOT require him to work Fridays but they are adding in extra hours to include Good Friday. The OP accepts that if a bank holiday falls on his contracted Monday then he is obliged to work. The statement about working bank holidays should really be read as working bank holidays for those contracted days.

[Kati]

Re: Bank Holidays forced to work when not contracted?

hold on ... if the OP is contracted to work 28hrs a week, then wouldn't this be classed as overtime? https://www.gov.uk/overtime-your-rights/overview
If so, then they should only be made to work on the Friday if it is in his contract ...
[MENTION=63692]jamesyboy[/MENTION] ... what is the exact wording of your contract? could you post up the relevent pages?

[Mr $quandaŁot]

Re: Bank Holidays forced to work when not contracted?

Any update on this one? Did you manage to swap shifts or something?

[dukebhoy]

Re: Bank Holidays forced to work when not contracted?

I also have a different dilemma, I am contracted to 20 hrs.per week 5x4 if I take a bank holiday I need to make up the missing 4 hrs is this normal I have to give 5 weeks notice for 2 days off

Hi all just after a little advice. I work for Asda and i'm contracted to 28 hours. My contract states that i'm required to work all bank holidays if needed. I'm contracted to Mondays so i expect to work bank holiday Mondays. I'm not contracted to work Fridays. I've just viewed my rota today and they've put me in for 7 hours on Good Friday. I've told them i don't want to work it and as i'm not contracted to Fridays, i'm under no obligation to work it. They are saying that as it states in my contract that i may be required to work all bank holidays that i am obliged to work it.

Anyone know the legal position on this? Surely they can't force me to work on a day i'm not contracted to, bank holiday or not? They haven't even offered me another day off so this will take my hours that week to 35 when i'm only contracted to 28.

Any advice much appreciated.

[teaboy2]

Re: Bank Holidays forced to work when not contracted?

I also have a different dilemma, I am contracted to 20 hrs.per week 5x4 if I take a bank holiday I need to make up the missing 4 hrs is this normal I have to give 5 weeks notice for 2 days off

Your not obligated to make the four hours up for taking bank holiday as part of your annual leave entitlement. So no its not normal to be told you need to make up the hours you took as part of annual leave.

For example you work 20hrs and 4hrs fell on a bank holiday where you had booked the bank holiday off as part of your annual paid leave entitlement. You would still be paid 20hrs for that week so long as you worked the remaining 15hrs over the remaining 4 days that you did not book as holiday. So basically when you take a days paid holiday it is from a legal point of view treated no differently to you having actually been in at work that day and paid for it. So you do not owe them 4hrs for the day you had as part of annual leave entitlement. Likewise they can not deduct 4hrs pay from your normal 20hrs pay for refusing to make the 4hrs up either, as if they did so, they'd be in breach of section 13 of the employment rights act 1996 as it would be deemed an unlawful deduction of wages (which includes deducting holiday pay).

As for giving notice to request leave. There is no minimum or set period of time to give such notice when requesting leave, so in essence you could request tomorrow off, but then their is not obligation on the employer to grant your request for leave either, unless its near the end of the companies holiday entitlement year and you still have some holiday entitlement to take.