"any other duties..." clauses in employment contracts scope

[joebongo]

Further to a post I made a few weeks back I am in a wrangle with my NHS employer about on call duties I performed which were subsequently not paid due to a manager claiming they were done on a voluntary basis.

I'm out of time for tribunals, the sum is about 5k and the only thing that may scupper getting what I'm owed is the employment flexibility clauses - the ones that say "blah...perform any other duties...blah."

Does anyone know off the top of their heads whether such flexibility clauses can include anything and everything including doing 24/7 cover for a long period or is there a defined scope to it?

I couldn't see any definitions on the web so thought I'd ask here as my union will take forever to sort it and PH is almost always far more accurate as a hive mind.

Cheers,

Joe

[Derek Smith]

joebongo said:

Further to a post I made a few weeks back I am in a wrangle with my NHS employer about on call duties I performed which were subsequently not paid due to a manager claiming they were done on a voluntary basis.

I'm out of time for tribunals, the sum is about 5k and the only thing that may scupper getting what I'm owed is the employment flexibility clauses - the ones that say "blah...perform any other duties...blah."

Does anyone know off the top of their heads whether such flexibility clauses can include anything and everything including doing 24/7 cover for a long period or is there a defined scope to it?

I couldn't see any definitions on the web so thought I'd ask here as my union will take forever to sort it and PH is almost always far more accurate as a hive mind.

Cheers,

Joe

A lot depends on the wording but the phrase is not normally accepted as a 'catch all'. It must be read in relation to the previous requirements. So if you were hired as a chauffeur and told to clean the car when it got dirty, this might be included in 'other duties'. If they asked you to decorate you bosses living room then that could well be a no-no. If a general phrase follows a, or a list of particular ones then the particulars limit the interpretation.

Going with the flow is the short-hand.

[anonymous-user]

Rules of construction: The particular does NOT always limit the general, as the particular may be indicative/non exhaustive. Construction depends on the words used.

Derek is right, however, to say in effect that context is everything, so you need to tell us more facts.

[anonymous-user]

Post the clause, summarise the facts, ta.

You might (I said might) still have a right to sue in the County Court for breach of contract even if more than three months have passed since the issue arose, as in contract claims the statutory jurisdiction does not oust the common law jurisdiction (Nostalgia corner: this point was established by the very first case that I ever argued alone and leaderless in the Court of Appeal, back when I was small).

Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 20th January 19:19

[joebongo]

Thanks guys that's very helpful indeed.

It has dawned on me I also don't have a contract for this job. I did have one for the previous role I had within the organisation but when I moved to this one 3 years ago (and it's a very different job) I wasn't given a new contract but the old one and every other one I've had from the NHS has had a standard flexibility clause.

I will ask HR for a copy of my original job contract so I can post up the clause verbatim however it may take them some time in true HR style and won't refer to my current job but it's the best I can do.

[Martin4x4]

In my experience "other duties" clauses typically refers to the type of work tasks you can be asked to carry out and not refer to call out or additional hours for which they is usually a seperate clause (which has to be pretty specific because of the working time directive).

In the absence of a contract that explicitly includes out of hours/call out work or it is normal for the Job, e.g. nurses shift work.

You would seem to have a strong case for recompence.

Edited by Martin4x4 on Tuesday 21st January 00:01

[Jon1967x]

I'm slightly confused. Are you saying your employer refused to pay you because they did not request you to do the work hence it was voluntary? Or you have a contract for a job and such work is expected?

I think there are two different points here, payment for the work and whether the work is a reasonable part of your employment.

[joebongo]

Jon1967x said:

I'm slightly confused. Are you saying your employer refused to pay you because they did not request you to do the work hence it was voluntary? Or you have a contract for a job and such work is expected?

I think there are two different points here, payment for the work and whether the work is a reasonable part of your employment.

I was asked by a manager in my team to do the work (we have a loose matrix management setup where it is viewed as acceptable for the head of another section to ask an employee to do things for a member of staff in another section).

The work was done and when I asked for payment the manager stated to HR that it was done on an "informal" basis, ie: voluntary basis. There was no indication that this was the case and I went to considerable lengths to fulfil the work done. My feeling is that it is reasonable for me to expect payment for work done. It was, on reflection a tad naive of me not to check remuneration but I placed trust in the manager concerned to just organise that aspect.

The contract reference I make is just that I don't have a specific contract for the job I am currently in. I transferred from a different role internally and no new paperwork was drawn up so the nearest thing to a contract I have is the one from the previous role.

Doing on-call work is a reasonable (but optional) part of this role and the other staff in my team who do it are paid for it. What I have asked for is payment on the same nationally agreed terms as the other members of the team who do an identical function.

[anonymous-user]

If payment for such work is the norm, and no agreement to work without payment was made expressly or can be inferred from conduct, then you appear to have a claim. The claim can be made on the basis of the contract, or by relying on the restitutionary principle of "quantum meruit", under which services rendered and accepted ought to be paid for at a reasonable rate.

There is a rubbish old case about sailors who were promised extra pay if they worked harder and got the ship home quickly, whose claim failed because the mingy Court said that the sailors were merely doing what they had already contracted to do, and so had provided no consideration for the extra pay, but your case is some way from that.

Raise the claim internally, as a grievance if need be, and seek to negotiate it rather than sue. As a last resort, you could claim in a County Court, but try to avoid doing so. Be calm, polite, moderate, etc.

[joebongo]

Jon1967x said:

I'm slightly confused. Are you saying your employer refused to pay you because they did not request you to do the work hence it was voluntary? Or you have a contract for a job and such work is expected?

I think there are two different points here, payment for the work and whether the work is a reasonable part of your employment.

I was asked by a manager in my team to do the work (we have a loose matrix management setup where it is viewed as acceptable for the head of another section to ask an employee to do things for a member of staff in another section).

The work was done and when I asked for payment the manager stated to HR that it was done on an "informal" basis, ie: voluntary basis. There was no indication that this was the case and I went to considerable lengths to fulfil the work done. My feeling is that it is reasonable for me to expect payment for work done. It was, on reflection a tad naive of me not to check remuneration but I placed trust in the manager concerned to just organise that aspect.

The contract reference I make is just that I don't have a specific contract for the job I am currently in. I transferred from a different role internally and no new paperwork was drawn up so the nearest thing to a contract I have is the one from the previous role.

Doing on-call work is a reasonable (but optional) part of this role and the other staff in my team who do it are paid for it. What I have asked for is payment on the same nationally agreed terms as the other members of the team who do an identical function.