do i have rights?

[alexey]

i have been off sick from work for three months now and my manager has contacted me to tell me that when i do return to work i will have no hours to go back to. she says i will have to work when she says, even if its a night shift. but, the thing is, i cant do that as i have 2 small children and dont have childcare at night. where do i stand with this and is there anything i can do to stop her from doing this?

[loobie]

Alexey,

I think you need to have a read over your contract to first to see what it says in there. You could also speak to your human resources department and ask them.

Try the link. Not sure if there is anything useful on there but they do have helplines and suggest contacting your local citizens advice bureau.

A guy that works at my place has been off for about a year. As long as he is producing a doctors certificate then he does not have to come in. His condition means he cannot work at all until he is better but his job is there waiting for him.

Hope this helps even a little bit as your boss sounds like a complete cow!

Take care.

[loobie]

http://www.direct.gov.uk/Employment/Employees/Pay/PayArticles/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=10027238&chk=zJsbBF

Sorry forgot to put site on! Hope it works but if not just go onto theie website and hunt for it!!

[Miss Zippy]

Before your absence due to illness, did you work regular hours? If so, on the face of it (i.e. without me knowing the details of your contract of employment) it would seem that your employer is in breach of contract. If you were to leave your employment (I�m not suggesting you should), you could probably claim �constructive dismissal�, which means your employer has made it very difficult for you to stay in the job (in your case, because it is unreasonable to expect you to work nights if you have children, unless it is a term of your contract that you might be required to work nights). I suggest you dig out your employment contract, make a detailed note of all the events that have led up to the current situation and take them along to your local Citizens Advice Bureau for help. Once you know where you stand from a legal point of view, if your employer has a separate personnel division, I would approach them to discuss the matter.You should always seek to resolve employment issues internally before you take any kind of formal legal action, as an Employment Tribunal will want to see that an employee gave his or her employer the opportunity to remedy the situation.

[laurence2]

Alexey, misszippy is spot on, I would like to add tho Theirs no mention of what you do, the reason i ask this is because someone on this site may have had a similar experience, Also are you in a union ?

I don,t need to see a contract to see your manager is throwing her weight around, If its true she is adopting bullyboy tatics, you can take out a grieveance proceadure against her, but don't worry about this at the moment.

Find out your rights NOW,

[Welshboy]

Look up http://www.acas.co.uk. Very helpful - and they have a 24/7 helpline.

[alexey]

thanks for all your replies, i work as a sales assistant in a petrol station. i have worked there for two years and everything was good until this manager came onto the scene. you see she has only been there for about six months, employed loads of new staff and more than half the old staff have left because of her. i have already had a disciplinery for so called shouting at her across he store even though i had a letter off a witness who was in the store at the time she said it happened. there is one girl who works there who is kind of alright as she telephones me to give me all the gossip. so, if i do go back i know what has been said about me. she has even been showing my sicknotes to all the other staff members!

[Elfin]

Hi alexey,

I replied to your other post before reading this one. If I were you, I'd look for another job straight away. Stay off work and get incapacity benefit if you need to, while you concentrate on getting better (which takes time). Your manager sounds dreadful. Unless you can speak to her superiors about this, you'll just get more worked up in the current situation. You may not be well enough to go battling it out through the courts. Look for a better future for yourself. Life's too short to spend it dealing with people like that.

[AllYourBase]

If you are a worker in a petrol station, there is probably something in your contract that expects you to work some nights, either regularly or occasionally - as most petrol stations are open part of or all of a night. You chose the job, probably not realising this would ever be invoked - perhaps there was a regular nightshift at the time. Maybe the situation has changed in your absence, meaning everyone teaks turns.
I suspect that this does not have anything to do with your "shouting" incident or even your sickness, though more and more firms will "retire" individuals on long term sickleave if there is no evidence of them improving, making any effort to return (ie suggesting compromise hours/roles etc) or having an open endied diagnosis)
Either way, I am sure you could choose another job.

[patc7641]

Depending on your health, you may be able to get advice from the Disability Rights Commision, they have a good website. A disability is defined as a condition that has lasted for or is expected to last for 12 months, if this is you then there are obligations on your employer that they have to adhere to under the changes toi the Disability Discrimination Act. Dont have the DRC's address but you can google it.