Asked to work extra hours but less pay

S

SandraD

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There is no union in this job. Company are letting go 2 part time workers and the 3 full time workers are expected to do their work.
The problem is that 2 of these workers are on minimum wage and one is on 14 euro an hour. The company have informed this person that he has to cover the work of the other 2 workers if they are on holidays etc but if he does he will only be paid their rate of pay.
Can a company do that? I have searched but can only find information on overtime.
 
Is the company is financial trouble?
Is the "worker" an employee of the company or a contractor? It would be good to clarify as everyone who works is a worker, be they management, contractors or non-management employees.

The company can ask it's employees to do whatever they want as long as it is not dangerous or illegal or outside the terms of their contract. The employee can of course refuse. If they are sacked for refusing to take on additional duties the employee can take a claim against them and will win.

NERA will be able to advise on the specifics of the situation.
 
Is there a contract in place? Is there anything that coves what happens in such eventualities in there?
 
No the company is not in financial trouble. They are a large well known company who tender for contracts on sites around Ireland. The people are employees taken on under TUPE and this person is the supervisor on site.
This person has worked for them on this site for the last 15 years
He has heard through the grapevine that the company tendered way too low for the contract this year as someone else got it last year and are trying to save money
 
Believe it or not he doesn't have a contract. This in itself is illegal I think but from reading up on it I think practice outweighs any contract
 
www.workplacerelations.ie provide a plethora of advice , I think they would be more than interested in the proposed work coverage situation & the fact that a major company hasn't issued contracts to some employees.
 
I find the original post somewhat confusing. Are you saying that the person who is paid €14 per hour will only be paid minimum wage when he is covering for his 2 colleagues?. If so, who is covering his work?

Secondly, the fact that he is a TUPE employee means much of his T&C's will have transferred to the new company. Did he have a contract with his original employer?
 
The only contract he ever signed was when he was taken on at 20 hours a week 15 years ago. After a couple of years his hours were increased and he was made supervisor. He was never given another contract.
He works from 8 in the morning to 4 or 5 The other 2 take over from him in the evenings and Saturdays and they rotate the sundays
 
There is a EU rule that a employee can only work a limited amount of hours a week, I think it is 46hr max
 
roker said:
There is a EU rule that a employee can only work a limited amount of hours a week, I think it is 46hr max
Click to expand...
It's the Working Time Act. It's Irish legislation on the back of an EU directive and it's 48 hours, averaged over a number of months.
None of this has anything to do with the OP's query.
 
The 48 hrs rule won't apply but what could potentially apply is the required breaks between working days.

I wonder if the person in question has any contractual entitlement to overtime or are they deemed a "salaried" employee?. Plenty of people on here (me included) don't clock in or out, if the job requires me to work 50 hrs a week on a particular week, so be it.

This should have been covered when they TUPEd over to the new employer. Were they given any letter or documentation when that occurred.?
 
The employee in question can make a complaint to the Workplace Relations Committee via an e - form on the WRC site , it appears that the employer is abusing their position in this matter & at the very least a complaint will clarify matters
 
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