I she entitled to any pay?

[Eric Sson]

My daughter has just come home, after getting ready for work, to tell me that the big name supermarket she works for is closed today. She was on the rota to work today and no one informed her it would be closed. She text her manager while trying to get in only to be told her supervisor should have told her it was closed. That doesn't help my daughter as she will now lose a days wage.

As she was on the rota, and turned up for work but couldn't get in, is she entitled to any pay?

[Ripped-Off]

Re: I she entitled to any pay?

Firstly, as far back as I can remember shops have never opened on Christmas Day or Easter Sunday. I suspect the person doing the rota forgot to note that today is Easter and your daughter (presumably she is fairly young and doesn't know any different) went in expecting the shop to be open.

In any event, your daughter would not have worked today had the store management not been so inept and therefore would not have been paid, unless it is classed a holiday day for her. Without knowing what the contract of employment or store rules say, I would say that she is not entitled to pay. However, she should speak with the HR department and see what their view is. I would expect that they would at least agree to cover the cost of travelling to and from the store including the time taken to travel, as a gesture of goodwill for the inconvenience.

On the other hand, your daughter made herself available for work and was denied that opportunity, which barring anything to the contrary is technically a breach of contract, though it would hard to prove breach where performance is rendered impossible. The employer has a legal obligation to provide work if they have asked you to work; as in Langston v. AUEW [1974]:

"In these days an employer, when employing a skilled man, is bound to provide him with work. By which I mean that the man should be given the opportunity of doing his work when it is available and he is ready and willing to do it."

Going to the n^th degree of the law there may be a claim here. However, before you investigate any of them, I would have a quiet word with HR and let us know what happens.

[Eric Sson]

Re: I she entitled to any pay?

your daughter made herself available for work

That's the one I was thinking of. Other stores were open on the retail park and she had no reason to believe her store would not be open. She missed out on a trip with her friends because she was supposed to be at work. Its not her fault if her employer cant organise anything properly. It was part of her contracted hours which means she will not have worked a full week and will lose a days pay. She's not back at work until Tues, at least that's what the rota says, so we will see what HR has to say about this.

[Snoopy1948]

Re: I she entitled to any pay?

This is an interesting question posed here!

Rules for large shops in England and WalesShops over 280 square metres:

• can open on Sundays but only for 6 consecutive hours between 10am and 6pm
• must close on Easter Sunday
• must close on Christmas Day

There are exemptions to this but large supermarkets is not one of them.

I think the asker here has to balance his daughters lack of knowledge of the law against the store's ineptitude in rostering her on a day when it would have been illegal to have opened. They always say that lack of ignorance of the law ( in anything ) is no defence but youthful experience here may dictate otherwise. I cannot see a black and white resolution to this but if the store's management gave implicit instruction to attend on the day, which ( no offence ) you have to question, then perhaps the management should consider a goodwill gesture of say two hours pay for travelling and turning up. But it's all down to discretion ...