My partner works for Royal Mail in the UK. Currently on a part-time contract.
The staffing office doles out overtime on a strict aggregate system, based on accumulated overtime per person. Problem is that if you are on a six hour contract and trying to increase your pay to full-time (37) hours, you end up with such a high aggregate that all the full-time staff, that do overtime, can fill their boots with up to 70 total hours a week if they have signed an opt-out form for the working time directive.
How is this ethical, or even legal for the business to give priority treatment to full-time staff to boost their pay? One employee managed to boost their full-time night pay to almost £55k last year with overtime.
Surely this is against the rules of the Equality Act? I feel that it should come the under indirect discrimination section – an employer, without objective justification, applies a neutral rule to all employees, but it puts one group at a particular disadvantage.
I would think that an aggregate system for total hours worked would even the playing-field, especially as overtime is paid at a higher rate once working over 37 hours per week.