Right to overtime pay

Q: I have just started work with a new employer, and have found out from my workmates that he does not pay weekend overtime rates or give annual pay rises. What can I do?

A: Unfortunately, there is no law requiring an employer to pay additional rates for overtime or weekend working, or to give pay rises, so additional rates are only payable if they are part of your contract.

If you were told that you would be paid additional rates for overtime and that is the basis on which you accepted the job, this is part of your contract and your employer would be in breach of contract by refusing to pay. It seems, though, that this was not the case, as you only discovered the overtime situation after you started working there.

The other circumstances in which you would be entitled to overtime as part of your contract would be if there is a custom and practice within the industry where you work. If, for example, workers had been paid double time for working on bank holidays ever since anyone could remember, you would be able to argue that the right to double time on bank holidays is a contractual entitlement.

However, it seems at your workplace that the common practice is not to be paid overtime, so I think it would be difficult for you to argue there was any custom and practice that said otherwise.

This is something that you will have to resolve through union negotiations.