Working hours and being treated unfairly

[10shamrock]

Hi there,

Apologies if this is a long post but, I could really do with some advice as I have no idea where I stand at the moment.

I work at my local delivery office and for the last 6 months or so my round has been nearly double that of my work colleagues. A new housing estate has been built nearby and to start with I only had an extra few calls as not many of the houses were occupied but, now the estate is full. Consequently, I am now struggling to get my round completed each day and I have on a very rare occasion brought mail back to the office. On each occasion I advised a manager prior to returning to the office and again when I returned (all specials and signed for were obviously completed and not brought back).

I am now having a problem with my line manager and he has now stated that I am to stay out on my round until all the mail is delivered otherwise he will have me done for gross misconduct and sack me.

I would really appreciate any advice on what he can and cannot do as surely I do not have to stay out there each day and work unpaid overtime? I am now really worried about Christmas as my round will get bigger and I will be out there working until the evening if this is true. Please would someone also advise me what hours we have to work each day as I know that with flexible working if we make time on one day we can use that time on a busier day? The problem is I do not make time on any day now so extra over my time would be unpaid.

Any advice would be very gratefully received.

[mclovin]

If you are worried about any bullying and harassment issues, simply call the Royal Mail Group Bullying and Harassment helpline for independent, confidential and professional advice on:
0800 587 4777
(24 hours a day 7 days a week)

He is bang out of order.

[gb93]

You have to work your contracted hours each day, no more.
Twice as big ?
And inform manager BEFORE going out if you think you cannot complete your round in time.

[rumble1234]

this is simple intimidation on your managers part he cannot make you work late. You Have contracted hours and as long as you work hard during those hours the Issue is not with you but with the duty and the system They Have brought in. Next time he tries it on simple say one thing i am not working late and say no more. Contact your union and Dont get worried if your a good honest worker he has nothing on you mate. We are all going through this crap at the moment your in no way alone in this

[IloveMYredTROLLEY!]

The problem here is that you think if you work past your contract finish time, you are working for free, having taken all your paid meal relief (at least 20 minutes, could well be 40 depending upon your contracted hours per day... 40mins for 7+ hour shift) I might add...

This is catagorically not the case! You are obliged to work until your contract finish time, if the round you are on looks like it will take you past that time you have two options:-
See your manager and estimate what you can deliver and still finish on time, if that is your choice
See your manager, state you feel you will need paid overtime to complete that you are happy to do, having some sort of ballpark figure of what time you feel you might finish (which is obviously subject to chenge depending on what happens on the road)

Especially in these post-revision days for some depots at least, only you can tell us what your contract hours are and over how many official days, for instance many 22.5 hour part-timers work 3 contracted days per week with 7.5 hours per day.

You need advice from your depot union rep on what you can and cannot do regarding bringing mail back undelivered, it is not something I have done to date but I believe their are very strict rules you need to follow when doing so, in my opinion it is far safer to leave mail behind (eg. leaving most/all the final row will safely get me past my contract finish time in my depot while not cutting corners on delivery).

[Lincox]

On any day that you even consider that you will be unable to complete, you must advise your manager when you have completed your indoor work and before you have left the office. It is then for the manager to deal with this under the overrunning deliveries procedure. If he thinks that you can complete he can ask you to take all of the mail out. However he must arrange a suitable time usually 1 hour to 30 minutes before your normal completion time, to contact you to see how you are getting on. If you are still unable to complete you should either be asked to bring any excess back to the delivery office or he will get another postie or sometimes him/herself to deliver the excess. If he considers that you are unable to complete before you leave the delivery office, then he must advise you how much of the mail he considers you must leave behind in order for you to be able to complete the rest within your hours.
Please note that if you finish early on any day, he/she cannot force you to use the unused time on another day later in the week. This would be considered as clawback of hours, for which there is no agreement between Royal Mail and the CWU. It is for your line manager in conjunction with the local CWU rep at their weekly resourcing meetings and with the forecasting of traffic for the week, to make sure that all of your hours are covered for each day. If they fail to do this, then that is their problem and you cannot be expected to work over your hours on another day because they have failed to plan correctly.

[POSTMAN]

Any advice would be very gratefully received.

Get your rep on the case asap!

[jeanie]

One of our lads followed procedure appendix 3 of the agreement and guess what!!! got suspended. He did however get reinstated the following day. Its seems line managers are intimidating and bullying staff, threats of being suspended too. How can this be allowed to happen??

[min]

I had exactly the same problem - when the estate was being built on my walk i managed to deliver to the first 20 or so houses that had been built but then after a few months when more streets kept going up i could'nt complete on time. I kept on at my manager for weeks - every day i told him my walk was too big now and that when i picked the walk the estate was'nt on it - so it was'nt my problem and he should either pay me overtime (if i wanted to do it or someone else took it out) He then told me that he would wait at my fitting every day and wait for me to see if i was coming back in early. I'm afraid it ended up in a heated argument on the delivery office floor with me ending up in floods of tears - i got straight on the phone to my area rep and i never got asked to take it out again unless i wanted it on overtime.

I have never heard the DO so quiet!!