Not allowed to book overtime

Miss Piggy · Post by **Miss Piggy** » 19 Jun 2016, 20:54

Hi there, I'm new to this forum and only been with Royal Mail since beginning of April.
I'm a part time postie contract 20 hours p/w. The walk Im on is quite heavy and never finishes on time. My depot is usually OK with paying OT but there are some days they call "light days" and managers tell us we should not be booking any extra time.
This is fine with me, in fact I would rather not work over at all, but I do, to get the job done.
But recently, on a day they were classing as a "light day" (yes the mail was less in quantity than usual) I still went over by around 45 minutes, but was told I couldn't book OT for it. What should I have done in this instance, should I have cut off ?

Postie45 · Post by **Postie45** » 19 Jun 2016, 21:05

Miss Piggy wrote: should I have cut off ?

yes, you worked your agreed paid hours, if workload exceeds that and they dont want to pay, then you stop at that time.

olilew · Post by **olilew** » 19 Jun 2016, 21:06

My gaffer would have told me to put it on the next day

Creditshampoo · Post by **Creditshampoo** » 19 Jun 2016, 21:09

20 hours contract....how many days do you work? Is it a part time or a full time walk?

datasaint · Post by **datasaint** » 19 Jun 2016, 21:09

Well firstly I would politely challenge the management, by saying you worked over your time to help out and you expect to get paid, you don't work for free. Don't let them fob you off by saying you made X amount of minutes earlier in the week when you finished early, that's not an argument because they can't bank hours and it's their job to fill up your contracted hours.

If that doesn't work, then bring in your union rep.

If that doesn't work, then you have to give up working over, and yes that means cutting off, but make sure you do it by the book, informing them before you go out you think you won't complete and what they want you to do, and preferably get a witness with you when you do it.

steve1873 · Post by **steve1873** » 19 Jun 2016, 21:27

Miss Piggy wrote:Hi there, I'm new to this forum and only been with Royal Mail since beginning of April.
I'm a part time postie contract 20 hours p/w. The walk Im on is quite heavy and never finishes on time. My depot is usually OK with paying OT but there are some days they call "light days" and managers tell us we should not be booking any extra time.
This is fine with me, in fact I would rather not work over at all, but I do, to get the job done.
But recently, on a day they were classing as a "light day" (yes the mail was less in quantity than usual) I still went over by around 45 minutes, but was told I couldn't book OT for it. What should I have done in this instance, should I have cut off ?

Quite simply, inform then that if you work overtime, you expect to be paid. If they insist on not paying OT, then don't do any.

Also, would get rep involved as this is, in effect, Illegal Withholding of Wages!

Post by **Judgee** » 19 Jun 2016, 21:31

Just tell them to pay you what you are owed. If they refuse then say to them that's fine but you'll never work over your time again, they'll soon change their minds. RM policy is getting us all working over our time by making rounds so large they cannot be completed in time on a normal day. That way they get every pennies worth out of us. Take no crap, if you let them get away with it they will just take the mick forever more!

IcanthelpthewayIam · Post by **IcanthelpthewayIam** » 19 Jun 2016, 21:47

Was the ot authorised by your dom before you worked it? and did you follow the overrunning delivery procedure?

salomon2 · Post by **salomon2** » 19 Jun 2016, 21:54

We have to agree any overtime before we leave the office. How long is your walk, is the prep not completed when you get in, sometimes they try that on and it takes time to get out.

yellowbelly · Post by **yellowbelly** » 19 Jun 2016, 22:04

zx135 wrote:Was the ot authorised by your dom before you worked it? and did you follow the overrunning delivery procedure?

ZX - with deference to your greater knowledge and experience, these two nuggets of information are often not passed on to new
starters either by colleagues and definitely not by management (saves them money if they don't!!).

Also, as a recent starter I still find it difficult to estimate how much over time
I will be doing on a round (doesn't help being on different rounds all the time) - last week on one round I estimated an hour and it was almost double that
- mind you the heavens did open and Noah did go past me in his Ark....

IcanthelpthewayIam · Post by **IcanthelpthewayIam** » 19 Jun 2016, 22:49

yellowbelly wrote:
zx135 wrote:Was the ot authorised by your dom before you worked it? and did you follow the overrunning delivery procedure?
ZX - with deference to your greater knowledge and experience, these two nuggets of information are often not passed on to new
starters either by colleagues and definitely not by management (saves them money if they don't!!).

Also, as a recent starter I still find it difficult to estimate how much over time
I will be doing on a round (doesn't help being on different rounds all the time) - last week on one round I estimated an hour and it was almost double that
- mind you the heavens did open and Noah did go past me in his Ark....

Don't worry about getting the correct amount of time when asking, the key is getting authorisation to claim prior to working it, so even if you say at least an hour maybe a lot more, then you have covered your back, trying to claim it retrospectively when you didn't have permission in the first place is what makes it harder to get as actually legally rm don't need to pay ot that they didn't authorise before you work it

Nondescript · Post by **Nondescript** » 20 Jun 2016, 00:36

This is exactly the kind of managerial turd tactic we've now come to expect of those clipboard clasping nonces. Sharing a cell with 'Big Ron' ( Sheila to his shower mates) is too good for those penny pinching b*****ds. Scum.

iHateD2Ds · Post by **iHateD2Ds** » 20 Jun 2016, 11:19

Managers are under pressure from his/her manager to cut cost.
On light days they expect no overtime to be booked whatsoever and any delivery issues /problems should be absorbed by other staff.
Well thats what they expect but in practice its a different story.

If you are on a regular walk for a while you will have a good idea on how long it take to deliver.
Inform your manager before you bag up that you may go over your time and ask them should you book or cut?
Let them decide how to manage the situation.

Thats what they are paid for.

daveyeff · Post by **daveyeff** » 20 Jun 2016, 17:29

there are 4 new starters in our office on 20 hr contracts. their times are 8.25 am start 13.25 finish. (4 days) they are all paired on park and loop duties with full timers. the deliveries are ALL 4.45hr long. the duties are timed to finish last letter 14.30. 10 mins conveyance/pouching off. last 20mins break. finish time 1500. they are always over every day, regardless if its authorised. its impossible not to.

Post by **eastie** » 20 Jun 2016, 18:48

What I usually say to the DOM is I'm going over today and if he does ask me by how much I normally say it depends on how many neighbours I have to try.
How can you time your round. you can't with P/L