For the last five years I’ve been working six hours’ overtime at weekends to stoke coal boilers at a residential home. Now the heating is being switched to gas I’m told there’ll be no more weekend work, which means I will lose £80 a week before stoppages. Is there anything I can do?
It’s likely that your weekend working was regarded as “voluntary”, and therefore your employer is not contractually obliged to provide you with overtime working. You should check your employment contract carefully (or ask a solicitor or your trade union representative to do so) but it’s likely that your “overtime” is just that: working time above and beyond what’s stated in your contract.