Manager makes mistake with rota and wants me to use my holidays to cover up for it.

awolo1

Last year in December my manager had put me down on the rota for having four days off. Apparently I was suppose to question this with him as it wasn't correct, and I wasn't honest with him (he thinks).

The fact is, previous to this, I had asked him to explain to me how the rota worked and he told me that he didn't know, he told me the rota 'made do for now'. Since we had that conversation, he still hasn't explained how the rota works. Now if my manager doesn't know how the rota works and I don't - who does? Therefore I feel I was in no position to question the rota.

I have grumbles about the rota because every week you work something different, it's not consistent. Rest days are given at random points in the rolling week. Overall, it's very confusing.

I genuinely felt that the four days off was because that was what I was entitled to.

To give you some background, I work in retail, but it is not a customer-facing role, it's back office - so I work in a team.

My manager is now saying that two days out of the four days I should have been in work and he wants me to deduct these two days from my 2015 holiday allocation. Back in November, he realised he had made a mistake on the weekend before the Monday/Tuesday I was supposed to be off - but I had made plans and I wasn't able to cancel them or go into work.

Given that my manager can't explain the rota or be flexible over how it operates, I wasn't in a position to give in because of his mistake.

Generally speaking, our working relationship is strictly professional.

What would you do?

Southend1

I would contact my union rep for advice and support in the first instance.

Depending on the details you may be able to reach an agreement to write this off as an error or to work back the two days over a longer period e.g. An hour a day rather than use up two days annual leave.

I wonder why you thought you were entitled to four days off that week though? Do you not have standard weekly hours? Or did you have no day off the previous week?

SeduLOUs

Do you get paid for hours worked or for a set amount of hours per week?

If you had 4 days off and only worked say 20 hours that week, and were paid for only those 20 hours, then he has no justification to deduct anything from your holiday allowance (as you haven't been paid for the holidays he is claiming you have taken). The rota may have been wrong, but nobody owes anybody anything, so it can just be forgotten and move forward.

However, if you only worked 20 hours but were paid for 40, you owe the company 20 hours back. One option (probably the simplest) would be to deduct from your holiday allowance. Other options would be to work the additional hours back, or to have the overpaid hours deducted from your next payroll.

awolo1

Southend1 wrote: »

I would contact my union rep for advice and support in the first instance.

Depending on the details you may be able to reach an agreement to write this off as an error or to work back the two days over a longer period e.g. An hour a day rather than use up two days annual leave.

I wonder why you thought you were entitled to four days off that week though? Do you not have standard weekly hours? Or did you have no day off the previous week?

some weeks in our rota, I work six days a week. as it is 7-day rolling week, the following week can mean you are only in the office for three days. my contract demands 37.5 hours a week or thereabouts. each week there is a different shift. there is also weekend working which is random. the most days I've ever had off in a row up until this incident was three. so four days didn't seem unusual.

awolo1

SeduLOUs wrote: »

Do you get paid for hours worked or for a set amount of hours per week?

If you had 4 days off and only worked say 20 hours that week, and were paid for only those 20 hours, then he has no justification to deduct anything from your holiday allowance (as you haven't been paid for the holidays he is claiming you have taken). The rota may have been wrong, but nobody owes anybody anything, so it can just be forgotten and move forward.

However, if you only worked 20 hours but were paid for 40, you owe the company 20 hours back. One option (probably the simplest) would be to deduct from your holiday allowance. Other options would be to work the additional hours back, or to have the overpaid hours deducted from your next payroll.

it's a seven day rolling week which can lapse at times over two weeks. it's a set number of hours over that rolling period e.g. 37.5 hours. this is because it is shift based.

awolo1

SeduLOUs wrote: »

Do you get paid for hours worked or for a set amount of hours per week?

If you had 4 days off and only worked say 20 hours that week, and were paid for only those 20 hours, then he has no justification to deduct anything from your holiday allowance (as you haven't been paid for the holidays he is claiming you have taken). The rota may have been wrong, but nobody owes anybody anything, so it can just be forgotten and move forward.

However, if you only worked 20 hours but were paid for 40, you owe the company 20 hours back. One option (probably the simplest) would be to deduct from your holiday allowance. Other options would be to work the additional hours back, or to have the overpaid hours deducted from your next payroll.

but my manager made a mistake with the rota which went unnoticed for nearly a month. why should I owe the company time back when they made a mistake?

SeduLOUs

awolo1 wrote: »

it's a seven day rolling week which can lapse at times over two weeks. it's a set number of hours over that rolling period e.g. 37.5 hours. this is because it is shift based.

So how many hours did you actually work in the week (or pay period) in question, and how many hours were you actually paid for?

He can only deduct hours from your allowance if you actually owe something back. If you were only paid for the hours you worked, then you don't owe anything.

Southend1

awolo1 wrote: »

some weeks in our rota, I work six days a week. as it is 7-day rolling week, the following week can mean you are only in the office for three days. my contract demands 37.5 hours a week or thereabouts. each week there is a different shift. there is also weekend working which is random. the most days I've ever had off in a row up until this incident was three. so four days didn't seem unusual.

Ok that makes sense. It sounds like you are salaried rather than hourly paid?

If so, I would be looking for a best case scenario that the error is acknowledged to be the manager's and that nothing further is done about it. Or a compromise that you work back some or all of the time over a defined period rather than use up annual leave if that's not what you want to do.

Speak with your union rep for advice (you are a member?). This can possibly be resolved by discussion between you and management (and maybe he Union rep if there is recognition) or you may decide to raise a formal grievance if discussion doesn't come to anything.

awolo1

SeduLOUs wrote: »

So how many hours did you actually work in the week (or pay period) in question, and how many hours were you actually paid for?

He can only deduct hours from your allowance if you actually owe something back. If you were only paid for the hours you worked, then you don't owe anything.

i worked all the hours I should for my pay period, but it was less 16 hours due to the mistake that was made. I am not paid for the hours I work as I am salaried. I was paid for the days, they have not not paid me, but they want to crawl back these two days (which is my argument : is that fair given the mistake that was made).

awolo1

Southend1 wrote: »

Ok that makes sense. It sounds like you are salaried rather than hourly paid?

If so, I would be looking for a best case scenario that the error is acknowledged to be the manager's and that nothing further is done about it. Or a compromise that you work back some or all of the time over a defined period rather than use up annual leave if that's not what you want to do.

Speak with your union rep for advice (you are a member?). This can possibly be resolved by discussion between you and management (and maybe he Union rep if there is recognition) or you may decide to raise a formal grievance if discussion doesn't come to anything.

yes, salary. thanks for the feedback.

Southend1

SeduLOUs wrote: »

So how many hours did you actually work in the week (or pay period) in question, and how many hours were you actually paid for?

He can only deduct hours from your allowance if you actually owe something back. If you were only paid for the hours you worked, then you don't owe anything.

If OP is salaried then I would try to make a case around the fact that the employer failed to provide x number of hours that week but OP was available to work had he been rostered and therefore doesn't owe anything. As it was reasonable to assume that the working pattern for that week according to the rota provided by the manager was not abnormal or incorrect.