Overtime problems

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~J~

~J~

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Quick question:

Company I work for asked me to do some overtime in January to meet a customer deadline.

I spent about 30hrs extra working to get it complete, and sure enough met the deadline.

When my company were testing the software, they referred back to the original spec and noticed they hadn't told me everything, so gave me the additional work which got done. This additional work was during normal working hours.

Today, I get an email saying the company is NOT paying me the overtime because the original work was not completed on time!

So the question is, just because they didn't give me the full spec, can they refuse the overtime, even though I've got proof that the full information was not given to me in the first place?

Normally I'd not bother, but at nearly £20 an hour for 30 hrs is a lot of money!
 
How big is the company?

I'd speak to the HR department or the person you were reporting directly to.
 
Gilly said:
How big is the company?

I'd speak to the HR department or the person you were reporting directly to.

Company is only about 12 strong. The person telling me is the director.

I'm furious to be honest. Totally knocked me for six, can't believe that because of their lack of information to me that I've gotta suffer.

The work they got they admitted was brilliant, but also admitted that they forgot to give me a bit more.

Not happy :mad:
 
That sucks, might have to look at your contract, but you worked the hours so you should be paid for it. Its not like it was a personal favour to the company.
 
Well that's the clincher mate, only been with the company since October and as yet, I don't have any contract!!
 
~J~ said:
Well that's the clincher mate, only been with the company since October and as yet, I don't have any contract!!

If the company is only 12 people strong, they might not have the funds budgeted for the additional pay. But whats with working outside of a contract for 5 months?

Are you full time there or just contracting?

If you have prrof that the job went out off spec, and they won't pay you, try suggesting TOIL.

But it comes down to how much you want to rock the boat.
 
No I'm full time, they just keep forgetting to send the contract.

What's TOIL?
 
Depending on how strongly you feel about this maybe speak to a solictor to find out about your rights. Do you want to carry on working for a company that treats its' employee's like this anyway?
 
wordy said:
Depending on how strongly you feel about this maybe speak to a solictor to find out about your rights. Do you want to carry on working for a company that treats its' employee's like this anyway?

Nope, I'm thinking of leaving anyway, had a hell of a lot of problems with them (not getting paid my full-time wage over Xmas, etc), and a lot of other issues that I don't think are right to mention on a forum, suffice to say it's been the most unhappiest time of my working life in 20 years.

Obviouslly I don't wanna get the sack! But to answer your question, I feel very strongly over this, I just think I've been took for a ride.
 
Does the director know the full story?

If he knows that you weren't given the full spec and is trying to get out of paying you then it's a bit off. If it's just a case that whoever failed to give you the full spec in the first place hasn't told the director the reason that the project wasn't finished in order to cover their own back then explaining the situation will probably get you the money.
 
Explain the full situation to him and then state that you DID work the overtime hours, you did put a lot of hard work into it, and you do not work for free.

If he insists in not paying you, tell him where to shove the job ASAP.
 
Cheers for the responses,

Quite categorically, the director is aware that the work he gave me was completed. To cut a long story short, there were some crystal reports which all got done apart from the suppression of zeroes. I asked him if he wanted me to work late to go through the field properties and suppress the zeroes (there's about 100 fields over 8 pages of reports, so quite a bit of time).

Anyway, he said if I did, it'd earn me "Brownie points", so off I went, spent about 4hrs on that occasion doing the work, emailed him at about 22:00 to say they'd all been done and next morning get an "Excellent!".

Jobs a ***'un I thought. Next day, get told the reports are great, but of course when they compare what I've done with what the customer wants, what I've done is perfect but there's a few missing. Look back on the notes from the customer to what they've given me and sure enough they've not given me the full story.

So yeah, the director was aware of it.

This happened about 2hrs ago, thought I'd have calmed down by now as I'm usually a rational person that needs time to think things over, but this is just totally unfair.

O well, time to distrubute the CV again.

Cheers again for the responses, appreciate it.
 
Wouldn't TOIL be classed as gross misconduct though? Not getting paid I can cope with with for a few days, but if it means losing my job, then obviously I can't afford to be out of work.

It's an option I've thought of, really can't be bothered to put the effort into my work when it's not appreciated.
 
5 months and you havn't received your contract?!

I got mine after about a week.

It *should* say in your contract about overtime or the company will have a general concesus on what they pay.

I know here where I work we only get time off in lieu. Only if we work saturdays or bank holidays do we get time and a half.

All of this should have been in your contract which you should have received not long after starting.
 
You should normally get a contract within 2 months, and then after your probation period they should issue you with a new one I believe? Or modify it, either way you'd have to sign both of them anyway. :)

It should cover the following points, and therefore you'd either be or not be entitled to overtime if it's part of their business plan:

* your employer's name
* yuor job title or a brief description of the work you will be doing;
* where you will be working, and your employer's address if you will be working in more than one place;
* when you started work;
* the date on which your continuous employment began (this is important when considering your entitlement to other benefits set out below);
* how much you will earn;
* when you will be paid.

It will also include information about:

* your hours of work;
* your holiday entitlement (including whether public holidays are inclided in this);
* your entitlement to sick leave and sick pay;
* pensions;
* the length of notice you and your employer have to give if you leave or are dismissed;
* how long your job is expected to continue, if it is temporary;
* any agreement between your employer and a trade union that affect the terms of your employment; and
* your employer's disciplinary and grievance rules and procedures.
 
~J~ said:
Wouldn't TOIL be classed as gross misconduct though? Not getting paid I can cope with with for a few days, but if it means losing my job, then obviously I can't afford to be out of work.

It's an option I've thought of, really can't be bothered to put the effort into my work when it's not appreciated.
Time off in lieu means free holiday days to the value of the hours you've worked. it isn't a suspension, its paid the same way as holiday days are.
 
I'd certainly try going off with the TOIL option.

The company I'm going to be working for categorically do NOT pay overtime... but there is the possibility of negotiating some TOIL for excess hours worked with your particular project manager.

Oh, and as for not having a contract after 5 months? That sucks and most likely they're holding off on giving it to you so they can continue to screw you around. I'd really push for your contract, or just walk.
 
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