Rights to refuse work..?

rogan

rogan

rogan

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Basically heres the situation

Uni graduate (not me) cant find a job in field he wants so currently working at a bar. He has no contracted hours but is employed on a full time basis (they can ask him to work whenever)

Now he gets his shifts for the week every saturday and previously if he say made plans he could just scribble on their rota the week before and he wouldnt be put down for a shift at that time

New manager now implemented that if you want something off you need to fill out a form with 6 weeks notice

Now are they allowed to do that seeing as he doesnt even get a weeks notice for his shifts? Basically he's now at the point where he cant make any plans and is effectively 'on call' 24/7

What are his rights?
 
Is he on a temporary contract? If so I imagine he could have a problem as if he doesn't comply with what the manager wants him to do they could get rid of him easily enough. Doesn't seem very fair though.
 
Dunno what his rights are but six weeks notice for a day off does seem a bit extreme.

I suppose it depends on whether he's using his holiday entitlement or asking to be left off the rota on a specific day. If he's just informally asking to be left off the rota I imagine that his employer can make up whatever rules they want.
 
it doesnt sound that unreasonable to me if sounds like he hasbeen taking the **** and expecting only shifts that suit him
 
It's not that unusual for bar/restaurant work. All depends on how understanding/flexible the management are.

This is what the gov direct site says.

So there's a guideline, but the can pretty much stipulate what they want.
 
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Ive been in a similar situation, been in a courier job where I was working 7 days at times! With days lasting from 9 to 8 o'clock at night.

Jobs that aren't set in stone with regards to when your working aren't worth having. The employer wants you to work you life away, get a job in a supermarket or something until you get the break in a grad job
 
Bit of a rubbish situation tbh. Sounds like your friend is basically on call, all the time. Though his contract will state how many hours he is required to work (i.e 20 hours a week etc.). He could always dig his heels in by working purely that amount of hours and nothing more.

In a lot of jobs people don't realise they don't have to work overtime. I had one job where every Christmas everyone would be allocated an extra 6 or 7 hours a week and told they had to work it. Whereas you don't have to work anything more than is in your contract, so I told them to give my extra time to the Christmas temps.

Employers love to make you feel like they own you but they don't. Tell your friend to hand your employer a sheet of times that he is available to work (eg. Week day nights only) and they'll have to rota about that.
 
UK-AL05 said:
The guy can do whatever he wants; just be prepared that the employer won't like it.
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yes, if he has zero contracted hours then that is all he has to work

of course if he begins to be difficult then zero hours is also all they have to give him
 
rogan said:
Thanks guys i feared that, seems its a catch-22 with the 'trying to keep the managers happy'
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at the end of the day, your happiness is FAR more important than theirs. Contrary to what many people believe, there are plenty of jobs out there, its just that they aren't being handed out to idiots anymore.
 
rogan said:
Thanks guys i feared that, seems its a catch-22 with the 'trying to keep the managers happy'
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my step son works in a club and does i believe 3 days a week but can be offered more, where he works people will often swap shifts or someone will do extra shifts that XXX doesnt want.
 
does he just have no shift pattern or 0 contracted hours? you said he has no set hours but a full time contract.

I would expect the amount óf notice you have to give them to be no more than the maximum notice they give him (7 days/14) depending on if he finds out at the start or the end of the previous week

However if he's on a casual contract (which is most likely) then he can refuse anything he wants, but they can also just stop offering him work. The security company I work for is casual contracts for 99% of the staff and it just leaves you completely open. They don't even have to make you redundant/fire you, they can just stop offering you work.
 
they dont have to give him any hours, but they can also give him as many as they need him for, but hes full time in that he's stated that he;s free to work with no commitments at any other time (his downfall i guess)
 
rogan said:
they dont have to give him any hours, but they can also give him as many as they need him for, but hes full time in that he's stated that he;s free to work with no commitments at any other time (his downfall i guess)
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That is not full time. That is a casual contract, he has 0 commitment to them, they have 0 commitment to him. If he doesn't play by their terms then he could very easily not have any work at all. However as mentioned above, shift swaps etc are fairly common to cover this sort of thing. But they should be finding out their shifts with reasonable notice too. I would get him to ask for more notice of shifts (also more time to swap them/find cover).
 
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