Hi

One of our employees is on a part-time contract 22.5 hours per week - 5 days and may need to cover more hours on certain occasions when one of our other employees has surgery.

Normally we would consider this as "time off in lieu" and pay her for the additional hours she works however we do not have a "time off in lieu" policy and do not allow this with any of our other employees. There is nothing in her contract in relation to extra hours and there is no information in our current handbook/policies.

Her case is an exception and one-off, is there any risk in proceeding with this arrangement and should there be anything in writing between the employer and the employee? The intention is to pay her "additional pay" when these extra hours are worked.

Some guidance would be greatly appreciated!