Employer imposing unreasonable working conditions

[superdrog]

A friend is employed as a Truck Driver for an established company.
Over the past few months about 50% of the drivers have been let go due to projected sales by the company not being met. The remainder of the drivers have had to double their workload to compensate for this. For example, my friend was one of three drivers delivering in the Dublin area now he is the only one yet has had no increase in his salary for three years. He has also noticed a dramatic change in the employers attitute towards him. He now finds that he constantly being given repeated requests with impossible deadlines or impossible tasks. In particular he is always expected to drive far more hours than legally allowed on his tachograph. He finds himself in a position where he has to go along with it because he cant find another job.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Percy]

Superdrog is your friend a member of a union? Sounds like a stron case for union involvement to me. Tell your friend to check the Terms and Conditions of his contract of employment. The employer may have wriggle room in that eg it may say something like "employee's hours of work are X, but may be expected to work outside of these hours from time to time". Something along those lines.
Bottom line is that your friend needs to put the foot down in relation to driving longer than is legally allowable and of course longer than is safe to himself/herself and other road users. If your friend is found to be driving longer than is allowed legally I'm sure it won't be the employer that ends up paying fines etc.

 

[shipibo]

I do not think T+Cs are important, if he is breaking the law driving over legal conditions the company and himself are in big trouble.

Tell him to contact NERA, to check out where he stands presently.Ring them to clarify


[broken link removed]

 

[superdrog]

Thanks for the replies.
His employment contract states that he is required to work a 45 hour week , and the maximum allowed on his tachograph is 90 hours in a two-week period.
He is a member of a trade union but is reluctant to involve them as he has a young family and fears that if he complains then he could be next for the axe. With Christmas approaching he does'nt want to end up on the dole.
He is keeping a daily diary of his routes and drops , and making photocopies of his tachograph cards.
Would the employers behaviour in this case constitute bullying?

 

[bond-007]

What is your friend going to do if a Garda inspects his charts? He could get banned from driving and loose his job that way. With Christmas approaching and garda checkpoints becoming more common I would be concerned.

The limits are 10 hours in any day and 90 hours in a 2 week period.