Night shift

qwertz

Hi all,

Can a company force an employee to do a night shift (11pm till 7am) or is it up to the employee to agree to it? Normal working hours according to the contract are 9am till 5:30pm

Thanks!

Obelisk29

I'd a similar situation recently and basically the company had their ass covered with a clause in the contract that said that that if business requirements dictated, they could change the normal hours worked.

You should be entitled to a shift allowance though.

qwertz

Thanks for the reply. Just had another meeting with the supervisor, manager and HR manager. They claim that all they have to do is give me the day before and the day after off in compensation for the night work. I believe that this is unreasonable. Any more opinions?

Noelie

that sounds reasonable to me, you work one day and get two off. no shift allowance will match that

qwertz

But wouldn't minimum rest period require that anyways?

Wishbone Ash

qwertz wrote:

But wouldn't minimum rest period require that anyways?

There are many exceptions. For example, in some occupations, employees do 7, 12 hour night shifts in a row (e.g. 8pm to 8am) and then get a week off to compensate.

qwertz

I understand that. Is there any reasonable way for me to decline the night shift request without getting into trouble?

Wishbone Ash

qwertz wrote:

I understand that. Is there any reasonable way for me to decline the night shift request without getting into trouble?

I doubt it. The fact that your contract says "normal working hours are xxxxx" means just that. That doesn't prohibit them from rostering you to do abnormal hours.

Can you swop with someone? In many jobs , there are employees who seek out night work and swop with those who prefer day work.