Change of shift stopping access to child

michele-p

Hi all, I'm new to this section.

My husband has a 9 year old daughter, until last October he had her every weekend, as his shift was monday to Friday.

He was asked in Oct last year to move to 4 on 4 off shift (long days). It was to be for 6 months to help the company out of a quiet time. My husband negociated a changed shift pattern, as he would go from every week seeing his daughter, to a lot less on a revolving shift pattern. He arranged to have her every other weekend, and work the extra days he'd need to take off to cover this.

The six months came to an end, he was told to stay on shift. He was called to a meeting yesterday to be told that the company thought they had been flexible enough, and now they want him to work a regular shift pattern to make it easier for everyone else to know if he should be at work or not.

Things got heated, luckily a union rep was with him, and they ended it by my OH saying he would speak with ex to see if she would mind him not having daughter every week. They live 30 mins drive away, so her staying during the week isn't an option as he'd have to get her to school next day.

Does anyone know where we stand on this? They are asking him to give up his allotted time with a child. He has already severely restricted his access for over a year now. They say that going back to Monday to Friday isn't an option.

They have asked him to think about alternative shifts, based on an 8 day week, so we'll print out some calendars and look at 3 long days on 4 off ect, to see how the weekends fall.

Where do we even start with what is allowed and what isn't?

Any help gratefully accepted.

hcb42

at the end of the day, how far does he want to take this?

Shifts change for all sorts of reasons, even for parents who are living with their children.

I would not think he would want to be out of work and then unable to see his child as he cannot afford to.

30 minutes is not far. It takes more than 30 minutes for the children in my village to even get to the nearest high school in the morning. Are you sure there is no compromise.

Spendless

michele-p wrote: »

They live 30 mins drive away, so her staying during the week isn't an option as he'd have to get her to school next day.

Why would that be a problem? Surely she'd be stopping over on the day when he isn't at work the following day with a 4 day on, 4 day off pattern? I realise it's an hour round drive for him though.

michele-p

Hi hcb42, thanks for your reply. I do feel we have been more than flexible over the last year. To halve the time he gets to spend with a child when he only gets her 52 days a year anyway is quite a step. On this shift pattern there are often 3 weekends on shift in a row, it just seems a step too far. To clarify, the shift is 7.30 am until 7pm, so on those weekends he can't see her, she goes to bed at 8.30. The old Monday to friday pattern was 7.30 - 3.30.

I know 30 mins isn't that far to travel, but before school it's more like 45. Mad when she lives just outside the school gates at the moment, we would have to consider extra petrol ect too.

I'm really looking to see if there's any legislation about them making an unreasonable request in a permanent change to working conditions? Ideally we don't want to have to go through with it, we'd like to try and work it out somehow. I don't know anything about rights ect, but my first thought would be unfair dismissal. Not that it should go that far.

hcb42

i dont think there is any legislative argument you will win here ultimately....companies have to flex to stay competitive

cr1mson

michele-p wrote: »

Hi all, I'm new to this section.

The six months came to an end, he was told to stay on shift. He was called to a meeting yesterday to be told that the company thought they had been flexible enough, and now they want him to work a regular shift pattern to make it easier for everyone else to know if he should be at work or not.

They have asked him to think about alternative shifts, based on an 8 day week, so we'll print out some calendars and look at 3 long days on 4 off ect, to see how the weekends fall.

QUOTE]

What do they mean regular shift pattern? Do they mean that it one of the existing shift patterns they currently use? Or that they will accept one as long as it confirms to an 8 day week?

C

DVardysShadow

This http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Flexibleworking/DG_10029491 might be relevant.

Emmzi

if he has PR he can request flexibkle working. The trick to getting it accapted is to show how his work can be covered and will not inconvenience the employer - his job to do that, not the employer's, and that is where many people go wrong.

Me, I too think 30 mins (or even 45) is not as insurmountable as you paint it.

a) depends what compromise can be reached with mum
b) depends how much we like actually seeing child
c) depends how much we like having a job

If it is a big problem, he moves house to be nearer mum/ school. Then it's only a one way commute.

clairec79

Rather than speaking to the ex saying can he not have the daughter every other weekend, could they not speak and see if they could come to the agreement that the weekends he's not working he have her (so rather than every other weekend he gets her for 3 weekends in a row, then mum has her for the next 3 weekends etc) as the rotas can be worked out in advance it can be planned for and they still get to spend the same amount of time together

michele-p

Hi all, thanks for all offering advice. we can look into having her one of the nights he's off through the week, then it's just collect from school one night, and drop back off next day, rather than 4 trips for a 2 night stay. Also, we'd not thought of having her on the off weekends rather than a strict pattern of alternate weekends. It all gets complicated when you add in her social life (parties, after school clubs etc. 9 year olds seem to be much more active these days than when I was young.) as well as a less than helpful ex. Also, as it's a moving shift pattern we'd all need to be very organised with the calendar and dates things will happen.

I'm going to try and find a shift schedule planner and see how it all falls.

paulwf

Don't forget to take into account holidays. The daughter should have around 13 weeks of school holidays plus a few inset days. Your husband will get a minimum of 5.6 weeks. I think the key to it working will be the ex being accommodating and the employer being flexible with holiday requests, hopefully both can be made to see sense.

This board has seen a lot of threads about changes from Mon-Fri work patterns to much more flexible ones. For better or worse there seems to be a real change to working patterns in many sectors, an upheaval seen in retail a decade or two ago.