No time for Answers

[Bugsy]

Hello Everyone,

I have been at the Royal Mail for nearly 4 months and need to ask a few questions here as all the staff around me have been here for a minimum of 5 years and my line manager is 'far to busy to answer trivial questions.'

1.First of all i need to confirm if you are on a 6 month contract(probation) are you entitled to a 2 week holiday? If yes then
2.If i were to take 1 week first would i actually have 6 days off because 1 day during the week would be my rest day anyway or would it be just 5 days as i usually work 5 days a week and the rest day just gets ignored. Basically im asking what is 1 week holiday exactly.
3.If after 6 months the Royal Mail decide to keep me on what i get a pay rise as i have completed 6 months or is it a brand new contract and i would have to work another 6 months before i can expect a rise.

thank you

[fb1969]

Yes you would be entitled to leave. Whether and when you can book it is another matter, all the "good" weeks will already be taken! As a new starter it's 22.5 of your contracted days per year, but taken in hours, so for six months it would be 11 days.

If you are kept on, you would gain entitlement to more holiday so you don't have to have taken time off, but you are legally entitled to take your leave. A week off is 5 days, in hours, the day off is not included. If the week included a Bank Holiday then you would only use 4 days.

Yes you would get a pay rise if you are kept on, the contract would be continued or renewed - it would not be a new contract. If you are over 18 it goes up by 60p per hour. After a year it goes up by another 60p per hour. The pay rise would be on the anniversary of your start date, so is often mid-week and the amounts just change - it wouldn't be shown as a pay rise in itself.

Do you have the Royal Mail People App? Your leave entitlement should be shown on it.

[Bugsy]

Sorry i forgot to thank you for your reply which answered all my questions so thanks once again.

The reason i remembered now is something else has come up but again too busy in my office for replies(i must ask for a transfer). I'll try and explain this in the simplest way i can. My rest day next week is a Monday but being a Bank Holiday we are not in anyway so does that mean i can have an extra day off that week or if i wanted to, work the rest of the week and get paid for an extra days work. I did ask a colleague who was working on the frame next to me today and he said he thinks because i am entitled to an extra day off next week i can choose not to take it, come in to work and get paid it as overtime(Overtime? bit confused on this). Anybody have a definitive answer on this?

[fb1969]

Happy to have helped.

I can't work out what your colleague was actually trying to say, but you should be given one of three choices:

1. A day off in the same week - high unlikely to be available, if it was they could have given it to you in the first place.

2. A day added to your leave entitlement - back to your original problem about being able to take leave, and being certain it has been added.

3. Your contracted hours for that day being paid as overtime - my favourite option as you get the money and the matter is closed.

I have heard of some offices/DOMs who deny that option 3 is available, but it is and if you want it then make sure you are given it. All of the reserves in my office have been given Good Friday and Easter Monday as their days off, that is RM's attitude towards them so again I recommend taking the money. If need be involve your CWU rep or even branch and failing that put in a grievance. It is your decision on what option you take.

Our bookroom person comes round with a sheet of paper and you sign whether you want the extra leave or the money, and it is sorted the same week.

[Bugsy]

I think point number 3 is what my colleague was trying to say and now you have put it in a more understandable way i think that is the option i will be choosing.

The thing that is confusing me slightly is when you say 'overtime.' I would have actually said getting paid for that days work as i always classed overtime as the extra hours you work past the duty finish time and therefore getting paid more per hour i.e time and a half. Isnt the hourly rate different for overtime as opposed to contractual hours?

As for someone coming round in our office with a sheet of paper and asking whether you want the extra leave or the money, well pigs will fly.

[fb1969]

If you want the Bank Holiday as money you will be paid for your contracted hours for that day, and at the standard overtime rate. It is paid as overtime as there is no other way to pay it. Assuming you are then working Tuesday to Saturday, you will effectively get 6 days pay for 5 days work. If it is easier, forget the word "overtime" and just think of it as being paid extra to not work!

As for "time and a half" for overtime

Again assuming you are part time, any hours worked beyond your contracted hours is paid at several different rates. As an example, if you are on a 30 hours contract and normally work 6 hours a day then you would receive 6 hours pay for the Bank Holiday Monday.

SSPR - this is the first rate of overtime and is paid for all hours beyond your weekly contract up to a total of 37 hours (if your office is on 37 hours, 38 hours if not). This rate include any supplements that you normally receive (usually Delivery Supplement) and it is your normal total hourly rate so that you are paid the same amount as a full timer.

1st 10 hours rate - this is the next rate and is for the first 10 hours over 37 hours. It does not include any supplements and is the standard hourly rate plus a few pence extra, the last time I did it it was about 12p more than the hourly rate or "time and a hundredth" but is lower per hour than it would be with supplements.

Overtime beyond a total of 47 (or 48) hours a week is paid at BELOW the standard hourly rate. The more overtime you do, the less you are paid for it!!

There is also Scheduled Attendance which is guaranteed overtime and paid at a different rate - although the first level is SA@SSPR is the same as SSPR.

As for someone coming round in our office with a sheet of paper and asking whether you want the extra leave or the money, well pigs will fly.

It is probably one of the few things that my office does correctly and promptly! Whatever means your office uses, ask around and find out. You are entitled to decide which option you get, if they don't ask you then I expect they will either add a day to your leave or accidentally forget all about it.

[Bugsy]

I expect they will either add a day to your leave or accidentally forget all about it

Definitely the latter. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

[fb1969]

No worries. My background before working for RM was in admin, pay and documentation so I've made a point of finding things out, and RM don't go out if their way to tell you!