Offer Letter - No Hours..@

fatboypee

Hi, just a quick Q, I got a job offer and within it, there is a statement saying the following:

Your hours are those required to carry out your duties to the satisfaction of the company and as necessitated by the needs of the business.

In general I've no objection to this, I work the hours needed anyway however I would assume the contract will also contain it and to not have it stated, does it not leave the potential for abuse ??

Any opinions really appreciated.

Thanks

FBP

seamus

Potential for abuse, yes and no.

The amount of hours you can work is limited by law anyway, so they can't make you work an 80-hour week because "the business needs it", nor can they make you work two 15-hours shifts in a row.

It's a fairly standard clause I've seen in most contracts, but they usually state your normal working hours first before stating that "Occassionally you may be required to work outside these hours to meet the needs of the business etc etc".

The purpose is really to prevent a worker from clocking off at 5pm regardless of what is going on and instead requires them to comply with any reasonable request to stay longer or work a different rota if the business needs it.

"Reasonable" being the word there. To a certain extent, every clause in any employment contract silently has the words "within reason" at the end of them. No labour court will back up an employer who is making unreasonable requests of an employee, even if it's in their contract.

"Unreasonable" would be asking someone at midday to stay on for 3 hours after their shift ends, or requiring them to work a day-night-day-night-day-night shift schedule.

The clause you posted seems very open-ended - is that all it says about working hours? Do you know if the company works on a 24/7 schedule or if they're 9 to 5?

fatboypee

Hi Seamus,

Thanks for replying. Small enough co (semi startup) and all seems rather informal, in a way that suits as they've already agreed to allow me to work from home a bit too (nothing in the offer about that either tho). Nothing else referring to hours and this offer letter is drafted by the CFO so I'd say its all a bit loose.

Not to say that is a deterrent tho as co I work for now is a lot like that and in 8 years, no real problems..

Thanks

FBP.

LegacyUser

I'd imagine the hours will be stated in your contract.

Best of luck!