Q: Good evening,Can we be asked to work overtime for free playing on the fact we're on a one week in/off due to Covid?
Good evening,
Since the beginning of the Covid crisis, we've split the team at work first because we need to follow maximum occupancy of the rooms and obviously to protect our staff from contamination. We've been then working on a one week in/one week off rota basis, fully paid.
Today we've been told we need to work an extra 2h30/ week for free:
1.to compensate with the weeks we're off
2. Because staff have different contracts, some are on a 37,5h/ week, others 40h.
Basically only staff working 37,5h have been asked to work 2,5h for free.
It was a verbal announcement, no official communication from HR, and the bottom line is " if you refuse to work these 2h30 hours for free then you have to work every week.
My first question is, is that legal? Can they use the exceptional circumstances due to the Covid crisis to ask us for free without any amendments on our contracts?
Thank you very much for your help, I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
A: The answer to this question will depend on (1) whether you're paid on an hourly or salary basis, and (2) the total hours you work per week. If you're properly paid on a salary basis, then your employer can require you to work extra hours. If, however, you're paid by the hour, and you work more than 40 hours per week, you must be paid overtime for your hours worked in excess of 40 (even if you work less hours the next week).
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