working for free

aido79

just wondering if anyone else thinks this is crazy.one of the guys i work with was asked to work on saturday which is overtime as our hours are monday to friday. however he didn't turn up for work on saturday and when he came in for work on monday the foreman told him he would have to work a day for nothing to make up for not coming in on saturday. Apparently this is company policy as a way of punishing people for missing days!

Mr. Presentable

Unless it's in a contract, overtime is not compulsory. Also, it is against EU and Irish law to withhold pay for time worked, for any reason.

So, even if company policy requires you work Saturday overtime, they may not make you work a day for free.

aido79

i've only been with the company for about a month and as far as i know nobody has ever signed a contract. the overtime was optional. the guy worked the day for free coz he would probably have been sacked if he didn't!

the_syco

aido79 wrote: »

the foreman

You doing an apprentice?

JeanClaude

Ring the Guards, your mate has been robbed...:D and daylight robbery at that...

Seriously you get paid for hours worked, your boss (or foreman) seems like a right cowboy, just chancing his arm.

aido79

the guy is an apprentice but still don't think he should have to work free!

AARRRGH

Payment of Wages Act, 1991: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1991/en/act/pub/0025/sec0005.html

Tricky bit -

(2) An employer shall not make a deduction from the wages of an employee in respect of—

( a ) any act or omission of the employee,

unless—

in case the deduction is in respect of compensation for loss or damage sustained by the employer as a result of an act or omission of the employee, the deduction is of an amount not exceeding the amount of the loss or the cost of the damage,

They are basically deducting a days pay from his wage.

The website http://www.irishstatutebook.ie is great for this stuff. Search for things like "overtime" etc.

the_syco

aido79 wrote: »

the guy is an apprentice but still don't think he should have to work free!

Aye, but if he's first year, and the apprenticeship was hard to get, the foreman may know that he can get away with it.

aido79

he's a fourth year. the foreman is just being an asshole. he's sacked someone every 2 weeks for the last 3 months. he sacked one guy coz he asked to go home coz he was sick!

the_syco

aido79 wrote: »

he's a fourth year. the foreman is just being an asshole. he's sacked someone every 2 weeks for the last 3 months. he sacked one guy coz he asked to go home coz he was sick!

Sounds like the foreman was told to downsize, without giving any form of redundancy. Ask one of your union rep what's the story with your line of industry: is it just your site, or are a few sites letting people go? With the decline in the housing industry, you may be seen as expendable.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

you need a union rep to start tough-talking. it seems like all the employees are being mistreated.

aido79

as far as a can see i'm the only person in the company who is a member of the union and they don't do much for apprentices anyway. mistreated would be an understatement!!