7+ days in a row..

mrtonyb69

Hi. I work in a shop which is open seven days a week. Currently every second week I have to work between 7 and 10 days in a row. In any given week I do NOT have to work more than 44hrs. It's just that I may have to, for example, work from Thursday one week, straight thru to the end of Friday the following week. There is an alternative way of rostering (which would not increase costs for the employers) which would mean the max would be 5 days in a row. Our boss, while aware of this, does not want to take this on board. Is this legal?? Don't get me wrong. I'm glad to have a job, but by the end of day 8 or 9 you get to be pretty shattered.

Clauric

There is no simple anser. It depends on the amount of time you are given off between shifts, and the amount of time you have off every week.

Look up the Organisation of Working Time Actt, 1997 (here) and the Citizen's Information Centre (here)

gerrycollins

I worked in a similar environment before where it would not be unusal at times(not always) to work 13 days straight.

your contract will probably provide for 2x24 hour rest periods every 7 day cycle. If you work retail usually Sunday is day 1 Monday day 2 and so on, so if they gave you Sunday and Monday off then thats your two days off and then the following week give you friday and saturday off again thats your 2 days inthe 7 days cycle.

its unfair but not illegal and highlights poor management skills, the main issue you should enforce in your current situation is that you are getting your minimum 11 hours break between shifts.

mrtonyb69

Thanks guys for the responses. I had a feeling it wasn't illegal but wanted to throw it out there. From any Sun-Sat period we do get two days off, so they're covered there. As you said gerry it's bad management skills. Pity for us I guess. Thanks again guys.