NHS casual contract - pregnant and sacked

clairec79

I know when I did bank work we had to do one shift every 3 months to remain on the bank

I think from their point of view they gave you the option of staying on the bank (by doing the training day) and you said no

hungrynurse_2

depends on what grade you are, but what about working in out patients, or paeds as will be less 'lifting'. Legally, and contractually, you are entitled to occy health review if you are having problems and NHS will then limit your work offically, you will still be able to do more than 10%, but plenty of people work at all grades in hsopital until late in pregnancy, so no reason why you shouldnt do *any* work

LondonDiva

hungrynurse wrote: »

depends on what grade you are, but what about working in out patients, or paeds as will be less 'lifting'. Legally, and contractually, you are entitled to occy health review if you are having problems and NHS will then limit your work offically, you will still be able to do more than 10%, but plenty of people work at all grades in hsopital until late in pregnancy, so no reason why you shouldnt do *any* work

Problem is that she is an agency nurse - there's as much work as is available and they don't have a duty to find her work if there is none or if she will not be able to function 100% unless the dept concerned were willing to work round her.

If this was Reed or Addecco, there would be no question that they would need to find work for someone who went on maternity leave in Feb '09, then more than a year since the baby was born declined training and has not done any work with them.

teabelly

Uncertain wrote: »

Well at least you added the final sentence to this tirade!

I thought this forum was intended to help people make the best of their situation within the law, not a soapbox from which to shout your opinions!

It's a pithy summary of the situation not a tirade! The OP can't do the job as required. Bank nurses have to be flexible and be prepared to do shifts as and when. The OP can't so they are no longer suited to being a bank nurse until they can offer that flexibility.

teabelly

piglet25 wrote: »

I could have gone to a ward where they are short staffed and refused to lift ect but as that is the main core of my job I felt it would not be fair on the staff. I could not make the training due to bleeding, not because I couldn't be bothered.


Its a zero hours contract with no minimum hours per year. I was never given a copy and found that out when I was on maternity last time. I asked for the training to be rebooked and they ignored my request, and never acknowledged my letter re my pregnancy and associated health problems. I know they don't have any obligation to provide me with work when I request it but I feel they have acted in an underhand manner with me and I am sure they should have had a meeting with me to discuss the issue, not just sent out a letter. I have been with them for seven years.
Is it worth a letter to the top?

It seems you're medically unfit to do the job. If you can't do 90% of it then you can't do it. Not doing the training due to a medical reason is bad luck but again from their point of view you can't do the job. I'd be thinking about either being signed off sick potentially or finding another job within the NHS that you can do.

sadogs

I work in the bank office at our hospital. We send out a letter to staff every month called our "12 week letter" which is if you haven't worked for 12 weeks we send you a letter asking if you want to stay on the bank, if we hear nothing back we terminate the contract. The point is that a lot of bank staff just move, get permanent jobs, etc and don't tell us and we end up with a lot of 'dead wood' on our books. If you contact us we keep you on, but require a minimum of 2 shifts per month, but all we ask from our staff is to keep in contact with us. We also have had staff members who have had health issues which affect their jobs, but have managed with Occupational Health etc to get them work in the clinics rather on the wards where there is less manual handling. Please try to speak to the Manager of the bank office and explain your situation and they should be able to help. There is no difference between a bank contract and a permanent contract, you are still entitled to the same treatment and benefits, etc.

getmore4less

sadogs wrote: »

I work in the bank office at our hospital. We send out a letter to staff every month called our "12 week letter" which is if you haven't worked for 12 weeks we send you a letter asking if you want to stay on the bank, if we hear nothing back we terminate the contract. The point is that a lot of bank staff just move, get permanent jobs, etc and don't tell us and we end up with a lot of 'dead wood' on our books. If you contact us we keep you on, but require a minimum of 2 shifts per month, but all we ask from our staff is to keep in contact with us. We also have had staff members who have had health issues which affect their jobs, but have managed with Occupational Health etc to get them work in the clinics rather on the wards where there is less manual handling. Please try to speak to the Manager of the bank office and explain your situation and they should be able to help. There is no difference between a bank contract and a permanent contract, you are still entitled to the same treatment and benefits, etc.

So what contracts do you use these cannot be a zero hours if you have a minimum of 24 shifts a year.

It would also mean you have to pay the 2 shift even if not enough were available for everybidy on the contracts to do their 2 shifts.

piglet25

They knew I wanted to stay on their books, they should have recieved my letter as it was hand delivered and they knew the reason that I didn't attend the training and I had asked them to rebook it but they didn't do that, they just sent me this letter saying cheerio. I am qualified at level four and was only getting paid at band two,which fair enough is my choice but it goes to show that I know my job very well, I had paid for courses which would benefit them out of my own pocket and I have never heard of anyone being told there are a minimum number of shifts to undertake over a time period. I would go to work in clinics but they tend to be staffed by people on block bookings so there are no shifts on them.
I am really annoyed with them for not asking me in for a meeting or even sending me a letter stating their intention, I have been waiting for my new training dates! The manager is unapproachable and to my mind unproffessional (for example, I have had one annual appraisal in seven years) so I need to contact the person above her and state my case.
If anyone can help with 'keywords' which would assist me in being taken seriously, or any bits of employment law I would be eternally grateful, and thank you for all the helpful commnts so far

teabelly

The only route you may be able to take is a grievance. I'd talk to ACAS first or if you have decent contents insurance it often includes a legal helpline that may be able to assist. If there are minimum requirements to remain a bank nurse and you haven't met them then it is going to be tricky to fight it I would have thought.

getmore4less

piglet25 wrote: »

They knew I wanted to stay on their books, they should have recieved my letter as it was hand delivered and they knew the reason that I didn't attend the training and I had asked them to rebook it but they didn't do that, they just sent me this letter saying cheerio. I am qualified at level four and was only getting paid at band two,which fair enough is my choice but it goes to show that I know my job very well, I had paid for courses which would benefit them out of my own pocket and I have never heard of anyone being told there are a minimum number of shifts to undertake over a time period. I would go to work in clinics but they tend to be staffed by people on block bookings so there are no shifts on them.
I am really annoyed with them for not asking me in for a meeting or even sending me a letter stating their intention, I have been waiting for my new training dates! The manager is unapproachable and to my mind unproffessional (for example, I have had one annual appraisal in seven years) so I need to contact the person above her and state my case.
If anyone can help with 'keywords' which would assist me in being taken seriously, or any bits of employment law I would be eternally grateful, and thank you for all the helpful commnts so far

OK I think you need to dig out the contract and see what that gives you.