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IT Contractor new project means longer hours for no pay?

MagicIRL

Hi,

My girlfriend works for an IT consultancy in Dublin. Her contract has always been 7.5 hour days. 9am to 5.30pm with an hour lunch.

Recently she was assigned to a new project where he hours have jumped to 9am to 6pm, 30min lunch, on a customers site, with no increased payment for this additional time.

Is that legal? She was told she gets 3 additional non optional holidays (Good Friday and 2x Christmas) but that doesn't even come close to what working for even minimum wage would reward for the additional hours she'll work in a year.

Any and all advice appreciated. :-)

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[Deleted User]

MagicIRL wrote: »

It's a permenant contract. She works for Company A who then have her out on site for Customer B working on a project, so she doesn't get to negotiate her own daily rate etc as she's not a contractor herself although, in the eyes of Customer B, she is.

She should just leave really. She's a staff position with a body shop. Some people spend decades in such a job. Other realise best thing to do is leave.

If she has a years experience now & is on same deal as when hired she could double her money by going contracting properly.

Company A no doubt are experts at doing this ..... job hunting is only option IMO

ec18

It's pretty standard in IT consultancy's

mick4_2000

I also work in IT and would be required to but in a lot of extra hours. I don't have an issue with this but it's not part of my contract that I need to work an 8.5 hour day it's an understanding with my employer. I would be a lot less likely to put in the 50 or 60 hour weeks I sometimes do if I was being forced into an 8.5 hour day.

MagicIRL

Ok, so if 40 hour work week is now to be her standard, where does she stand regarding not being paid for the time?

She has to clock in and out so her 40 hours are set and recorded yet she is only paid for 37.5 of those which was her same wage prior to this project.

Stheno

MagicIRL wrote: »

Ok, so if 40 hour work week is now to be her standard, where does she stand regarding not being paid for the time?

She has to clock in and out so her 40 hours are set and recorded yet she is only paid for 37.5 of those which was her same wage prior to this project.

Has she checked her contract for that clause i mentioned?

Mrs OBumble

MagicIRL wrote: »

Ok, so if 40 hour work week is now to be her standard, where does she stand regarding not being paid for the time?

She has to clock in and out so her 40 hours are set and recorded yet she is only paid for 37.5 of those which was her same wage prior to this project.

Shes on a salary , not a wage.

If she wants a professional career, she (or maybe you?) needs to quit thinking like an hourly rate worker and see the bigger picture

If not, then feel free to get a job as a shop assistant etc.

heroics

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Shes on a salary , not a wage.

If she wants a professional career, she (or maybe you?) needs to quit thinking like an hourly rate worker and see the bigger picture

If not, then feel free to get a job as a shop assistant etc.

I have a professional career. Senior infrastructure engineer and get a salary. However I also get paid overtime. A little bit of give and take is fine. Working late here and there wouldn't bother claiming. But if they suggested that they wanted me to work an extra hour every day indefinitely then I would see that as a change of conditions.

You need to stop the old way of thinking that a salary is all you get paid no matter how many hours you work. A salary is paid based on a contracted no of hours per week. That way of thinking is how companies get away with employing less than the number of staff they need by putting pressure on employees to work unpaid hours. You can be sure the company is getting paid for the full time the OPs partner is onsite

Berserker

techdiver wrote: »

The attitude of many posters here us why we are slowly eroding to a decent work/life balance in Ireland.

Now I'm in software development and in my 10+ years I've never had this issue. Yes, on occasion you might need to work extra hours etc, but that is the exception rather than the norm.

Have you worked for the same company that whole time? It is a well known fact that developers, graduates in particular, who work for these consultancy firms tend to work long hours. It's expected and written into their contract. I disagree with it myself for performance reasons but it's the norm in these companies.

eeguy

techdiver wrote: »

The attitude of many posters here us why we are slowly eroding to a decent work/life balance in Ireland.

Now I'm in software development and in my 10+ years I've never had this issue. Yes, on occasion you might need to work extra hours etc, but that is the exception rather than the norm.

It's nothing new for grads to work long hours on a salary.
Doesn't matter if you're in engineering or IT or legal or nearly any other profession.
I don't mind working long hours if I'm learning something new as I work. If it's same sh*t, different day, then I'm out the door on the dot.

TheDoc

MagicIRL wrote: »

It was a graduate position. Her contract says a work week of 37.5 hours. This was what she worked for approx a year on other projects before being assigned to this team on the customers premises.

Now her work week has increased with no additional compensation nor did she sign a new contract to agree to these new hours.

I'm just wondering what the story is because it seems very odd that you can agree to work one thing and then be force into something different.

That's how being an onsite asset works unfortunately. She will likely have minor changes moving client to client and there is an expectation of some flexability.

Obviously her company make their $$$ from having assets onsite charging contracting rates. So it's like they wouldn't immediately offer a bump to her, considering they are likely making a higher margin on her onsite with this new client.

So there is nothing really illegal, and it's not uncommon. But that is not to say your GF should not speak with a manager about the contract she has, and if they need to redraw it up based on the new assignment.

That is assuming she also didn't acknowledge policy that denotes and specifies flexibility requirements based on resourcing.

Working as an onsite asset for a consultancy firm, is a decent start out I'd say if shes fresh from college. There will be challenges, different clients and environments and pressure to meet targets and deliverables. But I don' know anyone who wanted to, wants to, or plans to do that as a career.

So down to herself how big she thinks shes being ****ed over if she wants to address it or just let it slide until the point it gets ridiculous.

I know some people will be a bit "pwoah try a real days work" but in reality that is the contract she was offered, that was agreed, and the company are now extracting additional work from her, additional payment from a client, with no payment made to her.

If it was me, I'd probably approach my manager to discuss if a change of contract is required(but I'd check the other policies or T&C's I'd agreed to first)

I think sometimes people assume its someone storming into their boss and demanding stuff. Done right its a pretty casual no frills thing.

I just had some contractual amendments made this month due to a slight shift in workload. It's only slight, but I feel more comfortable having it in my contract and everyone being transparent about it. I go the extra mile enough as is.