I’m in England. For context I’m on a 31 hour a week contract, paid hourly and I’m on less than £10 an hour so not far off of minimum wage.
I started this job recently and I was advised beforehand that staff are expected to turn up 10 minutes early (unpaid as you aren’t working) and if you stay late (for example you might still be serving a customer) the first 15 minutes are unpaid. Now I understand the common courtesy of making sure I am early enough to be ready to start work at opening rather than be walking into work at opening however the 15 minutes unpaid of actual work has gotten me slightly and I’d like to check the legality of this.
My contract states my week is 31 hours and that any overtime is paid at the same rate as normal. My rota also follows this, adding up to 31 hours.
My problem started from a conversation about cashing up in which I was told I’d be 5-10 minutes late as I had to cash up, I then asked if I could not just cash up 10 minutes before close in order to be on time but I was advised that I had to cash up when we close meaning that I’d automatically be late out on any day when it’s my turn to cash up (please note I am not in a management position). I then asked about that being unpaid as I remembered that from what I was told before starting and I was informed again that up to 15 minutes is unpaid. This was then followed up with the explanation that 10 minutes before work and 15 minutes after is ‘included’ in what I’m paid for for the day which in my head can only mean one of two things- if I stay behind for 15 then my hourly rate comes down as I’m in work for more time for the same total pay or it means I am literally expected to work extra unpaid. Upon looking at my contract it doesn’t say anything about these extra bits being ‘included’ in my pay.
Whilst this isn’t major if it only happens once a month for example, I’d like to know where I stand legally so that going forward I know how to set a professional boundary of not working unpaid if it looks like this could be a regular occurrence?
Thank you