In Campbell River , since the arbitrator had accepted evidence of a doctor that the complainant's son had a major psychiatric disorder and that her attendance to his needs during after-school hours was "an extraordinarily important medical adjunct" to the son's well being, this constituted a substantial parental obligation of the complainant to her son.
The decision by the employer to change her hours of work was a serious interference with her ability to discharge that obligation. The Campbell River analysis was accepted by the Tribunal in Miller v. British Columbia Teachers' Federation , BCHRT 34, although the facts did not involve a complaint of discrimination in circumstances of a conflict between an employee's work and family obligations.
The following paragraph from the decision provides valuable insight into the Tribunal's position on this issue:. Thus, when an employer requires its employees to work overtime or modify their work schedules, it must be prepared to accommodate those employees where the change would result in a serious interference with the employee's family responsibilities.
Of course, whether or not a workplace schedule change and resulting effect on the employee's family responsibilities constitutes a serious interference, will depend on the facts of each case. Reviewing the facts in Falardeau provides some guidance on what would and would not meet that test. Falardeau, a single father, was employed as a mover with his employer, Ferguson Moving Ltd. During his — employment, Mr. Falardeau worked overtime on over occasions and on approximately 15 occasions during his employment.
When he rejoined Ferguson in , Mr. Falardeau knew that the nature of the work included irregular overtime hours involving both individual and multiple jobs.
On October 20, , Mr. Falardeau was granted sole custody of his son, who would have been approximately 7 years old at the time. As Mr. Often it seems that employees are at the beck and call of their employers, with little control over how and when they work. While employers legally have control over scheduling, it is not absolute. Employees have rights and can refuse to work additional shifts under certain circumstances.
In addition, your employer cannot change your schedule to harass you based on your membership in a protected class. In most cases, yes, employers generally can require you to work mandatory or unscheduled overtime. However, there are a few exceptions in which you can refuse overtime, such as in certain professional, technical, clerical, and mechanical roles, and if you are working in unsafe conditions or forced to work 7 days in a row.
More is discussed below. If your employer does require you to work overtime, you must be paid 1. You are also entitled to overtime whenever you work more than 40 hours in a week. Your employer must pay you for on-call time when the requirements of being on call impair your ability to do what you want with your free time. Your employer does not have to pay you overtime for hours if you have a valid workweek or other alternate workweek.
But the requirements for implementing an alternative workweek schedule are very strict, and few employers comply with them. If you don't feel comfortable speaking to your manager, find someone else in the business in a position of authority. If you're doing a lot of tasks outside your job description, you could ask your manager to prioritise them and drop anything that isn't central to your role.
If your manager still wants all the work done but you don't think you can complete it in working hours, you could negotiate longer deadlines to give you more time. You could also suggest your employer shares the work out among other staff or hires more staff to complete the work. If you're working too many hours but your employer doesn't want to pay overtime, you might be able to get 'time off in lieu' TOIL.
This means your employer agrees to give you time off instead of paying you for extra hours you've worked. If you've spoken to your employer informally but you don't feel like you're getting anywhere, you could take more formal action.
Taking formal action against an employer can be a long and stressful process. You might find it quicker and easier to look for a new job elsewhere. If you decide to stay and challenge your employer about your working hours or workload, you could raise a formal grievance. If your employer keeps making you work excessive hours, you might be able to resign and claim for constructive dismissal at an employment tribunal.
You'd need to argue they might be in breach of contract on the implied terms of trust and confidence. Whatever you decide, you don't have to do it alone - you can get help from your nearest Citizens Advice at any stage.
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Top links Making a small claim Help for victims of rape and sexual violence. Health Coronavirus - rules you need to follow NHS healthcare Help with health costs Discrimination in health and care services Going abroad for dental care NHS and social care complaints. Fix My Job. What to do about mandatory overtime Unfortunately, there is no law against mandatory overtime. Talk to co-workers: See if your fellow employees are also suffering from the effects of overtime-induced fatigue.
If you approach your employer about the issue, it is often easier and more effective to do so as a group.
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