is "zero hour contract" in the UK synonymous with "at-will employment" in the US

[© tweed]

is "zero hour contract" in the UK synonymous with "at-will employment" in the US?

I have slight trouble grasping exactly what a zero-hour contract is.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

It's when your employer can has full discretion over how many paid hours you work. So, if it's a caterer, they can only employ you for ten hours a week if they want to (or for that matter, no hours a week). This is pretty bad, especially when they come coupled with exclusivity clauses preventing you seeking work elsewhere. That means, if you cannot get enough hours in to make a living wage, you are in a bind.

Basically it's just an ephemeral job.

[Famous Mortimer]

It's when your employer can has full discretion over how many paid hours you work. So, if it's a caterer, they can only employ you for ten hours a week if they want to (or for that matter, no hours a week). This is pretty bad, especially when they come coupled with exclusivity clauses preventing you seeking work elsewhere. That means, if you cannot get enough hours in to make a living wage, you are in a bind.

Basically it's just an ephemeral job.

That's pretty crazy, worse than anything we have in America that I know of. We have jobs that may not give your hours but they don't make you go exclusive.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Although to be fair, the exclusivity clause was banned by Vince Cable in the bum end of the coalition government. Should have mentioned that it was basically a loophole.

[Silent Hunter]

It's when your employer can has full discretion over how many paid hours you work. So, if it's a caterer, they can only employ you for ten hours a week if they want to (or for that matter, no hours a week).

Yep, commonly used in catering and the care industry; it's something that UNISON (the trade union I belong to) are particularly keen on getting under control.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

An exclusivity clause for a catering job is just bizarre. The only jobs in the US that have anything like that are doctors and jobs that give you access to very sensitive corporate information.

[Yelnoc]

An exclusivity clause for a catering job is just bizarre. The only jobs in the US that have anything like that are doctors and jobs that give you access to very sensitive corporate information.

Not true. Wal-Mart made me sign an exclusivity clause when I worked there. I broke that, obviously, but it's the principle of the thing.