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Question Details: I'm currently employed in I.T, where my role is to manage and maintain computer systems.
My contracted hours of work are from 8:30am to 5:00pm, Mon to Fri.
My employer adopted an on-call roster, where IT staff are responsible to answer urgent calls and fix issues, outside usual business hours, to which no one agreed to, and no contractual changes were made. After debate, our employer wrote the new clause into our job descriptions, which everyone signed for fear that they would be made unemployed.
Should I be getting paid? Do I have to start work at 8:30 after working till 4am?
Filed under Employment Law | 1445 View(s)
Community Law Wellington & Hutt Valley
An employer can expect you to follow lawful and reasonable instruction, and it is not reasonable to ask you to do things that are substantially outside your contract.
You should get advice from an employment lawyer who can review your contract, because it is difficult to advise without seeing your contract in this situation.
You should be getting paid an average of at least minimum wage for the work you do.
Your employer has substantially varied your contract and your consent to that is debatable (however, you do note that there was debate and you did sign the new contract). An employer has a duty to act reasonably, fairly and in good faith, and if they have coerced employees to agree to extra hours, without extra pay, under the threat of potentially losing their jobs, then you may have a personal grievance for unjustified disadvantage.
Answered 9 May 2013. The IMPORTANT NOTICE below is part of this answer.
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