Has your job become harder during the recession? Many people feel as though they are working harder in the current climate within their existing roles.
With all the job cuts that companies have had to make, and the redundancies that have taken place, there are fewer people to shoulder the work.
But is this legal, and what are your rights when it comes to being asked to do more work for the same pay?
If you look at your contract it should define your duties within the company and it will often state that extra tasks may need to be carried out from time to time. In addition, there is likely to be a clause stating that you are required to work overtime.
If these clauses exist in your contract, then you can be expected to take on additional and extra duties when called upon and work longer hours. However, it is important to note that the extra work must be reasonable.
What is reasonable when it comes to doing extra work?
What is deemed as reasonable extra work will often be dictated by the seniority of your position – the more senior you are, the more duties and hours you may be expected to work.
For more junior staff it may, however, be seen as unreasonable if you are expected to work longer hours on a regular basis, especially if this means that you are left struggling to keep up with your workload.
What to do when workload and overtime becomes too much
Equally, the extra duties should generally be within your expertise and should not undermine your overall role or result in you being unable to carry out the tasks due to having insufficient knowledge.
If you feel that the additional work is not a reasonable expectation based on these rules, you can raise a grievance with the company. If the complaint is not then satisfactorily resolved, you could consider resigning and claiming unfair dismissal based on a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence.
However, before taking this action, you should consider whether the treatment you are suffering is serious enough to justify resigning. It is advisable to consult a solicitor at this stage – and certainly before resigning.
For more information, please call Sarah Calderwood, employment specialist at Slater Heelis: 0161 969 3131 www.slaterheelis.co.uk/employment.
