Recently my boss' boss (We shall call them X) held a meeting with my whole department, he does this about once a month. During this meeting the clarified that our contracted hours were 9.00 until 16.30.
However, I work in a manufacturing facility and production runs 8.00 until 16.00 and our department MUST support production, that is what our department does. So, X told us during the same meeting that we must be in during all hours of production so 8.00 until 16.00.
To add to this, X said no one in the department should be leaving at 16.00 meaning he wants us all to work extra everyday.
There was probably about 10 or so people in this meeting, I am the youngest and I am an apprentice so have the least amount of workplace experience compared to everyone else, they are all at least 10 years my senior.
I've worked at this place for 2 years and I have always been told to be in from 8:00 until 16:00, and I always have been.
All of these times and working hours confused me, but no one else said anything and I didn't want to be the one to ask the question about what time we should be in work.
Couple of points
- I arrive for work 20-30 minutes early everyday without fail.
- I currently continue to leave work at 16:00.
- Most others in the department start after me and therefore leave after me, I am usually the first leave but got there the earliest.
- We get paid no overtime, so I do not get paid extra for working an extra 30 minutes everyday.
My issue is, if I am already technically working an extra 30 minutes (not including the time of me arriving early for work) and I have been for 2 years:
- Can X make me stay even later and work more?
- Is it wrong of me to continue to leave at 16:00?
- Who should I go to for clarification? (X is not an approachable person).