Contract of employment

[superports]

Does anyone have theirs?

DOM constantly saying our contracts state that we "have" to do overtime.

Personally, due to the nature of the job, I have no problem showing a degree of flexibility by going over my finish by perhaps 10 or 15 minutes, and of course Christmas, but how much overtime is "expected"?

[Sidley]

The phrase that the arseholes throw around is this

a reasonable amount of overtime may be required to complete the job to a satisfactory level

I'd just interpret it differently.

Still doesn't take precedence over employment law no matter what they say. All o/t is voluntary, f@ck them.

[Stella102]

tell you DOM to shove the mail up his ass

[Lincox]

It does not say overtime is compulsory because that would be illegal. So it is unenforceable and therefore ask him to put it in writing.

[Pinky 1]

Does anyone have theirs?

DOM constantly saying our contracts state that we "have" to do overtime.

Then ask to see the contract

[BingBong]

Does anyone have theirs?

DOM constantly saying our contracts state that we "have" to do overtime.

Personally, due to the nature of the job, I have no problem showing a degree of flexibility by going over my finish by perhaps 10 or 15 minutes, and of course Christmas, but how much overtime is "expected"?

I have my copy...i don't return theirs...

[PhilthyPhil]

It does not say overtime is compulsory because that would be illegal. So it is unenforceable and therefore ask him to put it in writing.

Compulsory overtime is not illegal. It is perfectly legal for an employer to have compulsary overtime included in an employees contract, but only up to a total of 48 hours. The thing with the clause in RM contracts is that it is very vague and would therefore be very difficult to enforce. I think it would only be possible to consider an employee to be in breach of this part of their contract if they refused to ever do any overtime. Even then the chances of RM doing anything are very small. So essentially your manager can not use this clause in your contract to force you to do OT.

[PhilthyPhil]

For reference this is the relevant part in RM contract:

Royal Mail has the responsibility of providing a public service. This puts a special obligation on all employees to play their part in maintaining the kind of service which the public has the right to expect. The nature of the service makes a measure of overtime working necessary. For this reason, it is a condition of your employment that you are liable to work overtime and to attend at varying times on any day (including weekends, Bank and Public Holidays) as the need of the service demands. Overtime pay will be assessed in accordance with your business units pay directive, which you can gain access to by contacting your manager

[POSTMAN]

Does anyone know if anyone has ever been conducted for this.

PS:You guys work with some serious wankey screws.

[fishtank]

Does anyone know if anyone has ever been conducted for this.

No.
There used to be compulsory overtime up until the 1970's,then most of it was removed apart from a bit at Christmas,then even that finally went in 1998 when the working time directive came in.
A vague statement like the one in our contract just wouldn't stand up,contractual overtime agreements have to be pretty specific over number of hours and availability so that they don't break the E.U. directive and usually come with a big fat bribe which i can't see anywhere.