Cancellation of Work

butterflylady

Hi,

I was asked by my manager to attend work today, to work on a specific piece of work with her. To clarify my work place is closed for Easter and there is no access without a key holder ( in this case my manager).

While my husband says I am a mug for agreeing to go in, I did agree because I have a strong work ethic and wanted to get this piece of work done correctly.

To go to work today I had to put my youngest daughter into nursery at a cost of £50.

I drove to work and parked into the car park and waited for my manager to arrive, 15 minutes after the agreed time my manager texted to say she would be an hour and fifteen minutes late.

Nothing to do near work so I settled to wait in my car for that time.

Another 20 minutes or so later and I get a text and a phone call from my manager, saying that she isn't going to be coming in as she is poorly.

I understand that being poorly happens, however the manager said that she was poorly yesterday too. If she had cancelled yesterday then I would have been able to cancel nursery and not pay the fee.

Now I am left with no wages for today and a nursery bill, which wouldn't otherwise have been payable.

I am planning on asking work to pay for the nursery fees, do people think that this is acceptable??

xapprenticex

You can ask for some compensation if you are on good terms with them. you did use time to go there but I dont think you can force them to and I wouldnt go there tbh.

Next time put your work ethic aside and say you cant go in on days off, you are clearly not appreciated by your manager

butterflylady

Thanks for the response. It's very clear that I am not appreciated. Unfortunately I can't afford to pay the nursery fees, I would have used my wages to pay. Again complete stupidity on my part as working today just to pay nursery fees!!

I have been pushing for a regrading of my role, however this is just sidestepped and ignored!!

The combination of the two things, mean that I will be reducing my hours back to my sustaintive contract and refusing all of the additional work l have been doing.

TBagpuss

I think it would be reasonable for you to ask to be paid for the time you spent there, waiting for your boss, from the time that you were asked to be there until the time at which your boss told you that you wouldn't be needed.

It might be worth asking for [paid] time off in lieu for the time you committed, but legally, I doubt that you would be entitled to anything, or at least not to anything more than the time you were waiting for her.

jobbingmusician

I think firstly that you should explain to your manager what happened and the cost it incurred for you. See how she reacts to this - surely any fair minded person would reimburse your nursery costs. Keep the messages from her safe. Try to broach the subject with her in a pleasant way, explaining to her that she has left you in financial embarrassment due to the nursery fees, and that you expect to be paid for the time you devoted to work yesterday (or reimbursed for the nursery fees, whichever is greater), even if she does not feel you should be paid for the whole day.

If she is NOT reasonable, you could consider taking out a grievance against her with your employer. Whether you want to do this will depend on how long you have worked there, bearing in mind you can be dismissed for no reason at all within your first 2 years of employment.

ohreally

A fair minded person would pay expenses incurred (nursery, travelling, subsistence) in addition to a days pay.

Undervalued

TBagpuss wrote: »

I think it would be reasonable for you to ask to be paid for the time you spent there, waiting for your boss, from the time that you were asked to be there until the time at which your boss told you that you wouldn't be needed.

It might be worth asking for [paid] time off in lieu for the time you committed, but legally, I doubt that you would be entitled to anything, or at least not to anything more than the time you were waiting for her.

Exactly, it would certainly be reasonable but as you say legally there is no entitlement to anything beyond the time you were onsite.

Childcare costs etc are not the employer's responsibility unless of course they were made aware of the circumstances in advance and agreed to cover then (directly or indirectly).

xapprenticex

Realistically the manager wont be keen on going to her boss and saying she has costed the company money in return for nothing because of her own incompetence. But you never know, or she may pay out of her own pocket.

I wouldn't bother with kicking up a fuss if you care about maintaining a good work environment for yourself, if you raise a grievance against your manager, have an exit strategy in place, even if you've been there 2+ years. No point dreading work every morning for 50 quid.

getmore4less

This is a don't ask, don't get,

you were requested to work and were willing and able to do the job and turned up they need to pay you for the time you were requested to work.

just ask for that day to be paid

If they won't pay or come to a compromise you make a mental note on you future availability and flexibility.

(see you have this in mind already)

FBaby

It will most likely come down to how you approach the matter. If you tell her as soon as she comes in next week that you were inconvenienced, that you have a large nursery bill and you certain hope that she will pay for it as it was her fault, you are likely to get a different response to if you first asked her how she is, and then ask to speak to her privately when it's convenient to her, and then explain your situation and state that although you know she doesn't have to compensate you, you were wondering whether there was any flexibility in the budget to make a payment for the nursery fee after you share a copy of the invoice.

Good luck but really, any manager should compensate, so if she doesn't and show no remorse, I would look for another job.

Takeaway_Addict

ohreally wrote: »

A fair minded person would pay expenses incurred (nursery, travelling, subsistence) in addition to a days pay.

Indulge me.....Why would a fair minded person pay more than the rate going for a days work?

The OP could have said no.

That said as the OP turned up for work and it was cancelled through no fault of their own I would expect the employer to pay the normal hours for a normal day.