working student mum with redundancy looming - looking for a little advice please

marywooyeah

hi, I am 23 and studying for a law degree full time and I work 16 hours a week in a shop having been there for 5 years. the shop is open 9-5:30, so there is only a limited amount of hours during the day that i can work there (ie its not like I can just go in in the evening) my son goes to nursery while I am at uni and work, so since I started at uni I have been going to work on average 8 hours during the week and working an 8 hour saturday - the 16 hours allows me to claim the working tax credit childcare element. my shifts have been made around my uni hours which change each week, we get the timetables a term in advance but are subject to change, so basically each week is different for me, for example some days uni 9-10, 10-11, work 12-4, uni 6-7, this would be two days a week and then a saturday, or sometimes if I have a day off uni I would work the full day for 8 hours and then the saturday. its a tough timetable but worth the end result.
my partner works full time and I cant work saturday and sunday together cos then he moans that he is left holding the baby all weekend after being at work all week.

I was informed that the area manager is going to issue a strict timetable of shifts and that if you cant fit into those shifts then you will be made redundant. a few days ago I wrote down the shifts I can do for the next month and gave them to assistant manager, today got a text from my top manager saying "I need your uni rota asap, cant keep rotaing the rota around you", i text back saying "i gave it to phil", he texts back saying "no you just gave him a list of hours which adds up to 16".
well yeah - I work 16 hours a week! also the reason I gave him those hours is because those are the ones I can work!
got a text back saying "well i want your uni timetable (ie all the lectures and seminars) surely those arent the only hours you can work you must be more flexible than that we will have a 1-1 on saturday.

so now I am certain that I am going to be selected for redundancy, if i lose my job i lose help with childcare, if i lose childcare, i lose my degree. Also me and my partner are just about to put in an offer to buy a house, owning my own house has always been a life goal.
can anyone advise? apologies for the long post.

dmg24

I would agree with your employer on this one, you cannot dictate your hours.

Why does your uni timetable change on a weekly basis? I would be speaking to uni and explaining the problems this causes.

marywooyeah

hi there yeah I see their point, they are a business, but as I have a child I thought that had to offer me flexible hours? also I did ask at uni but they said that whatever groups I changed into it would still be erratic timetables as they change every week, ie you could have a contract lecture on a thursday one week and net week its on a monday. so whatever group I am in I would still have the same problem, and then I would still have to let them know what hours I could/could not work.
its obvious to me that I am for the chop, which i must say after working hard for 5 years for this company, working 55hr weeks at 5 months pregnant and 12pm-8pm shifts when 8 months pregnant i would expect some consideration for my circumstances from them.

Oldernotwiser

marywooyeah wrote: »

hi there yeah I see their point, they are a business, but as I have a child I thought that had to offer me flexible hours?

No, you have the right to request flexible hours and for it to be considered by them, that's all.

I have to say that you would have far fewer problems if your husband could be as flexible as you expect your employer to be. Does he not share your aims?

System

And also flexitime does not mean changing your working hours on a virtually daily basis which is what you are asking them to do.

dmg24

No, they do not have to offer flexible hours. You can request them, but they can refuse on the grounds of business needs.

The problem is you are offering no middle ground. Perhaps you could tell them what hours you are unavailable, and then hope they can accommodate you in the rest of the week.

Be careful not to contradict yourself - in the first post you state that the shop shuts at 5.30pm. In the second, you talk about working until 8pm.

marywooyeah

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

No, you have the right to request flexible hours and for it to be considered by them, that's all.

hi there, as far as I am aware the set shifts are to be either 9-5:30 or 12-4, so if I can work 12-4 two days a week (which does mean me dictating which hours I can work) why would this be a problem? or if I finish uni at 12 I could manage 12:30-4:30, half an hour isnt going to make a massive difference to the shop, and this is a reasonable request which tbh I dont really see why they couldnt accept it.
I just feel that no matter what I put forward I will be made redundant, losing my childcare and degree

marywooyeah

!!!!!! wrote: »

And also flexitime does not mean changing your working hours on a virtually daily basis which is what you are asking them to do.

but if thats what my uni hours say, then how else can i tell them when i can work?
I am not dictating it on a daily basis, i sit and work out when i can work for the next month as our rotas are made a month in advance, so they have my hours for the next month

McKneff

You can ask for flexi hours but the company can say no.

Why dont you just give him the information he asks for and then see what happens.

You dont seem to understand how lucky yu are to have such a flexible job and actually what seems like a great understanding of your situation.

marywooyeah

Be careful not to contradict yourself - in the first post you state that the shop shuts at 5.30pm. In the second, you talk about working until 8pm. [/QUOTE]

I am not contradicting myself, the shop is open til 5:30, when I was pregnant they introduced a thursday 12-8 shift for 3 staff to get the POS ready for the friday changeover, as at christmas time the shop was too busy for us to do it during the working day. we would work as normal from 12-5:30, the 9-5:30 staff would cash up and lock up while we had 30 min lunch and then 6-8 we put the POS up, after the shop was shut. that was only for that christmas that year, I didnt mean to cause any confusion

dmg24

marywooyeah wrote: »

but if thats what my uni hours say, then how else can i tell them when i can work?
I am not dictating it on a daily basis, i sit and work out when i can work for the next month as our rotas are made a month in advance, so they have my hours for the next month

Your uni hours are your problem, not your employers. They need to the shop to be adequately staffed, and half an hour at lunch time is a massive difference if they have a queue of customers.

What would the shop do if all staff wanted to dictate their hours?