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Loss of Sunday Premium Because of Promotion

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  • 29-01-2013 4:03pm
    #1
    seanmacc
    Closed Accounts Posts: 771 ✭✭✭


    My wife has been for a company part for the past 4 months. This is a very large company with shops all over the country. When she started working for them she was working for not much more than minimum wage but a Sunday premium was payable of 2euro extra an hour. She had no written contract of employment all the while she was working.

    Since she started the company has changed hands, retaining the outlets branding but is now running as a franchise. All existing employees get to keep their pay levels but new hires will be on new conditions. What has happened to her is that she has been promoted to being a shift supervisor last month and has been given a written contract which she has signed for that position. The contract did not sprecifically mention anything about Sunday premiums. In her latest pay slip she has discovered that they have increased her hourly rate but have stopped giving her the Sunday premium. As she is a part time worker she mainly works Sundays and with the loss of the Sunday premium it effectivley means that she is only getting a 37c an hour increase for taking on a lot more resposibility.

    When she approched her manager about losing the Sunday premium she was told that she signed up to the employment contract with the new owners and Sunday premiums were no longer paid to new employees and there is nothing that could be done and will essentially just have to suck it up.

    At this point she wants to revert back to her old position and pay rates, can she do this? She has only signed their contract 10 days ago.
    Can she force them into paying the Sunday premium which all other existing employees are getting and she got up to last month?

    If nothing can be done about this she will eventually just walk. She feels like she has been conned into taking this promotion. If she was to take a step back she will more than likely lose the premium as well.


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    #2
    Nody
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,316 CMod ✭✭✭✭Nody


    seanmacc wrote: »
    At this point she wants to revert back to her old position and pay rates, can she do this?
    Only if the company allows her to and unlikely to get the Sunday pay back as the new contract don't have them.
    Can she force them into paying the Sunday premium which all other existing employees are getting and she got up to last month?
    Nope; new position new terms that she agreed by signing the contract and will be in effect for all other employees going forward (and I'd expect the older once will be phased out one way or another from their existing term contracts as well).


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    #3
    Wanderer2010
    Registered Users Posts: 6,740 ✭✭✭Wanderer2010


    I dont think she has a leg to stand on and Im puzzled as to how she felt "conned" into the position, seeing as she signed a contract that didnt mention any Sunday premium. It was her duty to read the contract from start to finish and be familiar with all its contents, including overtime, sunday pay etc. Once a contract is signed she is legally bound to all the conditions contained within it. If she isnt happy in her new position I suggest giving it another few months before approaching the manager and explaining how she would like her old position back, and even then its not very likely.

    To be honest, alarm bells should have been ringing when she was working all that time with no written contract of employment, thats a bad sign and usually indicates a dodgy company so its not surprising they chop and change their conditions so readily. She will have to just accept this Im afraid.


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    #4
    seanmacc
    Closed Accounts Posts: 771 ✭✭✭seanmacc


    Wanderer2010 wrote: »
    I dont think she has a leg to stand on and Im puzzled as to how she felt "conned" into the position, seeing as she signed a contract that didnt mention any Sunday premium. It was her duty to read the contract from start to finish and be familiar with all its contents, including overtime, sunday pay etc. Once a contract is signed she is legally bound to all the conditions contained within it. If she isnt happy in her new position I suggest giving it another few months before approaching the manager and explaining how she would like her old position back, and even then its not very likely.

    To be honest, alarm bells should have been ringing when she was working all that time with no written contract of employment, thats a bad sign and usually indicates a dodgy company so its not surprising they chop and change their conditions so readily. She will have to just accept this Im afraid.

    She would of felt conned in the way that there was no mention of pay or pay rates in the contract, no mention by the manager that Sunday Premium would be lost. The people now working under her are paid more than her when working on a Sunday.


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    #5
    Procrastastudy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,224 ✭✭✭Procrastastudy


    No Sunday premium? I thought this was a requirement although it can be very little.


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    #6
    seanmacc
    Closed Accounts Posts: 771 ✭✭✭seanmacc


    Procrastastudy wrote: »
    No Sunday premium? I thought this was a requirement although it can be very little.

    Even where I work we get a shift allowance to compensate us for the unsocial days and hours. We have agency staff working for us who are not entitled to the shift allowance but they are paid a Sunday premium of 60c extra an hour. I thought it was a requirement myself.


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    #7
    RedXIV
    Registered Users Posts: 8,438 ✭✭✭RedXIV


    Procrastastudy wrote: »
    No Sunday premium? I thought this was a requirement although it can be very little.

    It technically is but weird with part time work as well, as OP indicated in initial post.

    OP, tell her to take the promotion, get experience and move up the ladder elsewhere? While you may have sought the promotion purely for monetary gain, think outside the box, your partner is now much more employable with extra skillsets.


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    #8
    seanmacc
    Closed Accounts Posts: 771 ✭✭✭seanmacc


    Procrastastudy wrote: »
    No Sunday premium? I thought this was a requirement although it can be very little.

    From the citizens information board:
    Sunday premium
    This is a matter for agreement between you
    and your employer. If not already included in
    the rate of pay, you are entitled to
    supplementary payment for hours worked on
    Sunday which will be equivalent to the closest
    applicable collective agreement which applies
    to the same or similar employment as yours
    and which provides for a Sunday premium.
    The premium can be in the form of:
    l Added payment
    l Time off in lieu
    l A portion of shift premium
    l Unsocial hours premium
    http://www.flac.ie/download/pdf/working_hours_09.pdf


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    #9
    Procrastastudy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,224 ✭✭✭Procrastastudy


    So she should be getting something then? I'd bring it up with the employer.


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    #10
    Nody
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,316 CMod ✭✭✭✭Nody


    Procrastastudy wrote: »
    So she should be getting something then? I'd bring it up with the employer.
    It can be changed to something else; for example in one job I had there were no Sunday pay but an unsocial hour pay for all days after 10pm instead. It all depends on what other pay(s) etc. there are and as noted above in the citizeninformation quote it can be included in the basic salary!


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    #11
    Procrastastudy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,224 ✭✭✭Procrastastudy


    Nody wrote: »
    It can be changed to something else; for example in one job I had there were no Sunday pay but an unsocial hour pay for all days after 10pm instead.

    Noted
    Nody wrote: »
    It all depends on what other pay(s) etc. there are and as noted above in the citizeninformation quote it can be included in the basic salary!

    surely not where the employee is a bog standard hourly rate?


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    #12
    tatli_lokma
    Registered Users Posts: 3,332 ✭✭✭tatli_lokma


    seanmacc wrote: »
    She would of felt conned in the way that there was no mention of pay or pay rates in the contract, no mention by the manager that Sunday Premium would be lost. The people now working under her are paid more than her when working on a Sunday.

    Are you absolutely sure about this? because if what you say is correct then the contract is in breach of the Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994 which states that:
    The statement of terms must include the following information:
    • The full name of employer and employee
    • The address of the employer
    • The place of work
    • The title of job or nature of work
    • The date the employment started
    • If the contract is temporary, the expected duration of the contract
    • If the contract of employment is for a fixed term, the details
    • Details of rest periods and breaks as required by law
    • *The rate of pay or method of calculation of pay
    • The pay reference period for the purposes of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000
    • *Pay intervals
    • *Hours of work
    • *That the employee has the right to ask the employer for a written statement of his/her average hourly rate of pay as provided for in the National Minimum Wage Act 2000
    • *Details of paid leave
    • *Sick pay and pension (if any)
    • *Period of notice to be given by employer or employee
    • *Details of any collective agreements that may affect the employee’s terms of employment
    * In the case of these items instead of giving each employee the details in writing, the employer may refer an employee to other documents, for example, a pension scheme booklet or a collective agreement, provided that the employee has easy access to such documents.

    so if the information on pay and calculations is not in the contract it must be in the staff handbook. If it is not in there either, then she might have a case for renegotiating as the contract she signed was in breach of the Act.


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    #13
    Nody
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,316 CMod ✭✭✭✭Nody


    Little Ted wrote: »
    so if the information on pay and calculations is not in the contract it must be in the staff handbook. If it is not in there either, then she might have a case for renegotiating as the contract she signed was in breach of the Act.
    Or the more likely answer the pay was listed as X hourly / monthly or which ever intervall was used and she assumed on Sundays she'd get X+Y even if it was not listed.


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    #14
    tatli_lokma
    Registered Users Posts: 3,332 ✭✭✭tatli_lokma


    Nody wrote: »
    Or the more likely answer the pay was listed as X hourly / monthly or which ever intervall was used and she assumed on Sundays she'd get X+Y even if it was not listed.

    Possibly, but I don't want to assume, given that the OP seems quite certain it wasn't. If I am honest I think it may well be a case of OP's wife not properly reading her new contract, but I just wanted to give the information as devils advocate in case the situation is as OP says and the contracts were not drawn up properly.


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