Night shifts/night working.

[Franky Four Fingers]

After a little bit of info from anyone in the know. My sons girlfriend is a carer looking after adults with learning disabilities and over the last few months she is being asked to do night shifts at short notice. Her contact does state that she may have to work nights but to me being told a week beforehand is somewhat unfair.
An example will be she has to do 2 consecutive 12 hour night shifts Monday and Tuesday next week. They start both days at 8pm and finish at 8am. She is not paid extra and gets very little break throughout the night grabbing 15-30 minutes if she can. All seems off to me but them I'm not in employment law. Can anyone offer any advise please?
FFF

[lew07]

I’m pretty sure an employer has to give 28 days notice of any change of shift pattern.

[xellos99]

There are laws about breaks i think, it may be illegal to work over 4 hours without a 15 minute break and 30 minutes over 6 hours.

Something like that, you cant just work 12 hours and have only 15 minutes off when your employer feels like it, its against the law as far as i know.

[bloater]

How much notice does she get of her normal shifts?
I used to work nights and although I was not paid for an hour due to breaks being lone working in a care type environment it wasn’t possible to have a proper break.
I didn’t get a premium although the new person doing my nights gets a higher basic than I did, however I was paid above industry average for the work and area.

[ODP]

In the NHS (theatres trauma and emergencies) shift patterns are rota’d but subject to short term change. If there was short notice sickness you might work a day shift which was typically between 10 to 12 hours and then a night shift of 12 hours back to back (its all about service provision). This is rare but does happen.
The night shift is paid for the full 12 hours as you hold a bleep for emergency A&E calls and emergency obstetrics. This means that if the bleep goes off when your grabbing something to eat you stop and attend. If you have a busy shift you might not get a break at all as there is a skeleton staff so no provision for cover (this was negotiated and accepted otherwise you would have to call people in to cover just the breaks).
Over the last 10 years or so the frequency of antisocial shifts has dramatically increased due to staff shortages. This at least helps increase basic pay as you get an extra £3 an hour for antisocial hours. The typical split is roughly 50/50 social hours (8am-8pm weekday shifts) and then weekends and nights. These can be rota’d somewhat haphazardly such as a night shift followed by a day off, followed by a weekend, followed by a couple of weekday night shifts. Its quite a disruptive shift pattern but is the norm and subject to short notice change.

Edit: Reading that back it sounds like conditions are a bit rubbish but you do get used to it.

[CardShark]

If her contract states that she may be required to work nights and she is being given appropriate notice as per stipulations (if they're stipulated at all) then I can't see any issue with her employer's request.
With regards to pay then they'd most probably argue that the potential for unsocial hours is already built into her pay structure, unless stipulated otherwise.
Breaks I'm not so sure about, given that particular industry. Usually it'd be X amount of break given Y amount of work time, though social/health care may be different.

I ought to add that whilst I've lead teams working within rota patterns and manpower requirements I'm not an HR bod.

[Franky Four Fingers]

Thanks for the replies. It jut seems unacceptable to expect someone to work 2 consecutive night shift at a few days notice when there is no increase in pay with little break structure when shes just finished her normal day rota. I guess they must be staying on the right side of the law otherwise they wouldn't do it…..

[Beanie]

I guess they must be staying on the right side of the law otherwise they wouldn't do it…..

I would suggest it's largely dependent on her contract (zero hours?), but I wouldn't be too confident that her employer strictly observes employment legislation. I take it she isn't a member of a trades union?
I would agree with those who would say that it's unacceptable, although there be some element of absolute emergency that mitigates this behaviour. At the very least, if she is bailing them out, she should be given an enhanced rate of pay.
Regarding unpaid breaks, she is entitled to to take a break. This must be away from her place of work, so not sat on a ward grabbing a bite while doing something for her employer. If for whatever reason she cant, she is entitled to compensatory rest at the end of her shift which she must be paid for (so she can sit in a canteen and unwind on their dollar). This is covered under the EU Working Time Directive, which at present at least, is still the law.
https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/article...annual%20leave
I guess she really needs to consult someone who is an expert in this field, I don't want to be glib and suggest she finds a better employer because life isn't always that simple.

[Franky Four Fingers]

I would suggest it's largely dependent on her contract (zero hours?), but I wouldn't be too confident that her employer strictly observes employment legislation. I take it she isn't a member of a trades union?
I would agree with those who would say that it's unacceptable, although there be some element of absolute emergency that mitigates this behaviour. At the very least, if she is bailing them out, she should be given an enhanced rate of pay.
Regarding unpaid breaks, she is entitled to to take a break. This must be away from her place of work, so not sat on a ward grabbing a bite while doing something for her employer. If for whatever reason she cant, she is entitled to compensatory rest at the end of her shift which she must be paid for (so she can sit in a canteen and unwind on their dollar). This is covered under the EU Working Time Directive, which at present at least, is still the law.
https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/article...annual%20leave
I guess she really needs to consult someone who is an expert in this field, I don't want to be glib and suggest she finds a better employer because life isn't always that simple.

No its a 40 hour a week contract

[blackal]

I would have expected a week's notice to be reasonable. A quick google found this:

How much notice does an employer have to give for a shift change UK?



How much notice does an employer have to give for a shift change? The law says that an employer must give “reasonable” notice for a shift change, but does not define a timeframe. A 12 hour notice period to change a single shift would be considered reasonable in most cases.

[Franky Four Fingers]

I would have expected a week's notice to be reasonable. A quick google found this:

How much notice does an employer have to give for a shift change UK?



How much notice does an employer have to give for a shift change? The law says that an employer must give “reasonable” notice for a shift change, but does not define a timeframe. A 12 hour notice period to change a single shift would be considered reasonable in most cases.

Theres almost too much info on google that conflicts and trying to apply to the case in hand…..i saw that but didn’t know if applied as it was more than a single shift and includes 2 consecutive all nighters

[CardShark]

Thanks for the replies. It jut seems unacceptable to expect someone to work 2 consecutive night shift at a few days notice when there is no increase in pay with little break structure when shes just finished her normal day rota. I guess they must be staying on the right side of the law otherwise they wouldn't do it…..

Which day shifts is she working leading up to the two nights? I've known fixed rota patterns to go from a day shift one day straight to nights the next, and legally there's enough time between finishing a day shift and starting a night to accommodate this. Is this the first time she's been asked to cover night shifts? It may be that she's been lucky in not being called up before and other colleagues have. What reason has the employer given to ask her to cover? Staff sickness or booked leave, for example?

She really needs to consult her contract and/or confirm with the employer what conditions there are around your points of concern, that's the only way you'll both be able to resolve this.

I'm a shift worker BTW so I know what it's like on the body clock and the inconvenience that comes with it.

Edit - just reread the OP, where you've said she's been working some night shifts over the last couple of months or so.

[Phil Lee]

I’ve been working shifts as tech support lead for a company that produces warehousing software for the last 2+ years. We operate 24/5 and have 4 shifts:

AM: 07:00 to 15:30
PM: 14:30 to 23:00
Night: 22:45 to 07:15
Day: 10:00 to 18:30

The Day shift is not used very often, there are maybe 1 or 2 people on it each week. As a shift lead, I was working a 3 week rotation due to staffing levels but that has gone back to a 4 week rotation:

Nights - PM - AM - AM

The two AM shifts is my preference, based on it being best for family life.

Our manager tries to do the rota at least 3 months in advance. It is currently posted up to year end. It is of course subject to change, either through leave, illness or other work duties. We normally get at least 1 week notice if a shift is being changed bt emergencies happen.

When I’m on Nights, there are typically 4 people on shift. There isn’t much chance to take a break, especially on a busy night. You kind of play it by ear and I often eat at my desk so I can keep an eye on our incoming incidents. On the AM and PM shifts it is much easier to have a proper break.