Would you do it?

[fairycakes69]

Hi I work part time, I chose to work in my home town as I do not always have the use of the car. My contract says I may be required to work in other shops, which I have done , I have gone to 3 different towns over the past 2 years. One of the places is 20 miles away but not via a direct bus route, I would have to get 3 buses starting at 07.39 and waiting an hour to get the third bus, I would finally arrive at 09.37. The same on the way back. I have gone when I have the car and I didn't mind. I end up waiting up to 6 weeks to get travel expenses. So far I have managed not to do this cover but the area manager is trying to make me. Do you think I am over reacting? I won't get paid when I work over my 20 hours I get days in Lieu.

[snags]

I think ''my contract says I may be required to work in other shops'' just about covers it...

[carmalee]

I can understand your frustration but if it's in your contract I guess you don't have too much of a choice in the matter. If I were you I'd try and have a friendly word with your manager, point out how you cooperated well in the past and see if you can come to some sort of agreement about you working a bit closer to home

[fairycakes69]

But surely that is with in reason, its not like I've not been going to other shops, I just think its asking a bit much.

[snags]

I actually agree with you, but if you signed a contract, your employer has every right to expect you to do it...

[albaqwerty]

I think waiting for 6 weeks to get travel expenses is more than a bit much.

[Eve]

What exactly (without identifying details) does the clause say? Does anything in the clause refer to reasonableness?

[fairycakes69]

the clause says ' may be required, during your employment, to work at other premies. This arrangement will be made between you and your line manager'..

[pink-kittens]

Do you get paid form the minute you leave home?
Is there no one else who lives nearer? Have others refused and not been made to it?

[fairycakes69]

No I don't get paid untill I get to the shop, so I will be paid for 7 hours and out the house for 11. My place of work is a 20 min walk or a 3 min bus trip, which is why I chose to work in my home town. There is no-one else to cover from my shop, its holiday times coming up. I've gone to this shop before when I've had the car, and I go to cover another 2 shops that are 20 mins on the bus and I don't mind that. It's just the 2 hours there and 2 hours back I'm bothered about. I've pointed it out to the area manager, but she's not impressed.

[mike11111]

If I had to spend what amounts to half the working day travelling to and fro I would expect a hefty salary as compensation.

[factor-fiction]

If it doesn't happen that often then I'd just accept that every now and again I have to spend quite a long time travelling in order to fulfill my contract. If it becomes a regular occurrence that you have to travel to the furthest store then you should speak to your manager and see if the load can be lightened or he will organise a taxi. But as it's part of the contractual terms maybe you need to seek another job that doesn't include a requirement to travel so far.

[feona]

Well waiting for six weeks is a long time. You can ask your manager to amend the contract as it is acting as a demotivating factor which is hindering your performance. If the manager is empathetic and your organization knows how to retain an employee, he will definitely understand your situation and would promise to do some efforts in this case.

[bibblebub]

give it up customtermpaper - all your efforts will disappear soon

[bibblebub]

... as I typed it in...

[boxtops]

^^^ to all comments about travel expenses - it is not unusual to wait until the next following payday for travel to be reimbursed, this happens across our organisations too. I have to put in my expenses by the 3rd of the month in order for the money to be reimbursed on payday on the 24th - which means that for anything from 3rd of the previous month (or earlier) you wait up to 6 weeks to be paid. My current travel claim (to be paid on 24th July now) has expenses for all of June so far.

Fairycakes, the key word here is "reasonable". If the request to go to the far shop is just every so often, it's not unreasonable, but your manager should take the distance and the fact that you don't drive into account. We were going to be moved to an office base with a 3-hour public transport journey there and back every day - in the end that was deemed "not reasonable".
If there is nobody else to cover, then the company may have no choice than to ask you to do this journey, but since the travel is adding 50% to your working day, it might be worth asking if you can add to your Time in Lieu hours, just for this particular cover.
Otherwise - yes it's in your contract, they are within their rights to expect you to do it.