Working day and night shift

smkungfu

smkungfu

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Hi guys

Just need some feedback on this topic as I am not to clued up on labour law.

So I work day shifts in an engineering and mining environment for a contractor and recently we had a major breakdown on one of our units. This required me and another colleague to book a callout and conduct repairs with the night shift. Luckily for us it was on a Friday night so we were paid overtime. We got a new control panel installed and discovered that the PLC unit is not working properly so an inhouse technician of ours would need to come and fix the problem.

This is where I'm not happy. I had to escort these technicians on another night shift when I've already worked day shift that same day. Bear in mind these repairs are done underground so conditions are not the best and walking from station to work site takes around 2 hours.

Furthermore, talking to these technicians they asked me what my overtime rate will be for tonight. I told them I won't receive overtime only the day of, whilst they will receive overtime and the day of.

Am I wrong for feeling that I'm getting screwed by my employer?
 
Not an expert either, but did my share of night shifts and overtime so did what I could to get clued up..

First, there is a pay threshold, which if you exceed, the employer is not obligated to pay you for overtime.. go lookup this threshold and if you do exceed it, consider yourself lucky that you were paid for the initial overtime work.. if exceeding this threshold, whatever your contract states with respect to overtime, is what applies, provided it doesn't breach the labour law in some way.. typically when exceeding the threshold, overtime would result in corresponding time worked being time off as payment..
 
For the overtime, it depends what your contract states. Overtime may not necessarily apply if you work more than your regular hours on a single day. Our contracts only have overtime if you exceed your required normal working hours in the given pay period.

Working a double shift is often not nice but sometimes required. Normally I would not accept someone working a double and then again the next day (so either day-night-day OR night-day-night). If it is the case that you have worked 3 full shifts in a row then I would certainly send this complaint up the chain.

Best is to first have an informal talk with your direct manager or HR regarding your issues.

If the informal discussion doesn't work, lodge a formal grievance.
 
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Chat with your Manager / HR about your situation. They will most likely reimburse you due to your dedication in working past the alloted hours that labour Law stipulates.
 
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