5 ms·

It is completely legal in the UK without any compensation. I saw companies adding clauses in their contract of 'and you agree to work overtime without any pay'

It is completely legal in the UK without any compensation. I saw companies adding clauses in their contract of 'and you agree to work overtime without any pay' by default and claiming 'it is our standard template, no one complained before you' when confronted about it. Once you agree to such contract, they pretty much own your time.

mr_gibbins 8y ago
I've got one of those. The one time it's come up, in relation to out-of-hours support, I made it clear that there are plenty of other jobs. So the arrangement is that I agree to do any overtime that the company requires, free of charge, providing they don't ask me to do any. In the meantime, if there's an emergency I'll do my best. And we get along quite nicely.
objclxt 8y ago
> It is completely legal in the UK without any compensation. This isn't strictly true. The Working Time Directive provides you the right to work no more than 48 hours a week. It is possible in the UK to opt out of the Working Time Directive, but it is not mandatory. You cannot be forced to do so. So whilst a UK company can legally add a clause that says "you agree to work overtime without any pay", they cannot force you to work that overtime unless you have agreed to opt-out. A company that doesn't hire you because you refuse to opt-out is breaking the law. https://www.gov.uk/maximum-weekly-working-hours https://www.gov.uk/maximum-weekly-working-hours
- ceejayoz 8y ago
  > A company that doesn't hire you because you refuse to opt-out is breaking the law. Unless the company does something bafflingly stupid, though, there's likely no way to prove that's what happened.
- gambiting 8y ago
  >> A company that doesn't hire you because you refuse to opt-out is breaking the law. I'm nearly certain you are wrong on this point. A company definitely cannot fire you or mistreat you for not agreeing to the clause, but there's literally nothing in that page that you sent that would say it's illegal to not hire somebody just because they don't agree to the opt out.
- tachion 8y ago
  Guess what, opting out is there 'by default' too.

mr_gibbins 8y ago

I've got one of those. The one time it's come up, in relation to out-of-hours support, I made it clear that there are plenty of other jobs. So the arrangement is that I agree to do any overtime that the company requires, free of charge, providing they don't ask me to do any. In the meantime, if there's an emergency I'll do my best. And we get along quite nicely.

objclxt 8y ago

> It is completely legal in the UK without any compensation. This isn't strictly true. The Working Time Directive provides you the right to work no more than 48 hours a week. It is possible in the UK to opt out of the Working Time Directive, but it is not mandatory. You cannot be forced to do so. So whilst a UK company can legally add a clause that says "you agree to work overtime without any pay", they cannot force you to work that overtime unless you have agreed to opt-out. A company that doesn't hire you because you refuse to opt-out is breaking the law. https://www.gov.uk/maximum-weekly-working-hours https://www.gov.uk/maximum-weekly-working-hours

ceejayoz 8y ago
> A company that doesn't hire you because you refuse to opt-out is breaking the law. Unless the company does something bafflingly stupid, though, there's likely no way to prove that's what happened.
gambiting 8y ago
>> A company that doesn't hire you because you refuse to opt-out is breaking the law. I'm nearly certain you are wrong on this point. A company definitely cannot fire you or mistreat you for not agreeing to the clause, but there's literally nothing in that page that you sent that would say it's illegal to not hire somebody just because they don't agree to the opt out.
tachion 8y ago
Guess what, opting out is there 'by default' too.