Sleep in shift not part of contracted hours?

dawyldthing

Lexi4237 wrote: »

I am just alarmed that people think that sacking a member of staff with disabilities is the way to go.
And that reasonable adjustments wont be considered.
I worked perfectly fine for 3 mths until they changed my 36 hour day shifts to two lots of sleep ins a week plus the 36 ontop.
The night shifts i am kept awake as i have several people in a house with learning difficuties who struggle to settle to sleep at night.

Then i am on a day shift the next day.
So a 17hour shift with no sleep and the another 7 hour shift.
So not really just a sleep.
They said they will pay me for the hours i was awake.
But i am more concerned that the sleep in shifts are not sleep in shifts as i'm kept awake... plus i could end up with more sleep in shifts ontop of my 36 hours.
No where in my contract does it state these sleep ins arnt my contracted hours.
Personally i would be alarmed if i work for a company with disabilities sacked me for having one.
As they have some staff members already that dont work night shifts.

If it’s a 24 hour service ask if they and the service users mind if the hours are swapped to say starting and finishing at say 10am as then if you’ve not got much sleep you can then go home not long after and rest.

sangie595

Lexi4237 wrote: »

Wow i love that some people arnt coversed to the law of the equality act 2010.
And that you should not put disabled people at a disadvantage because of a disability.
That employers should be able to employ disabled people otherwise disabled people would be unemployed.

Disability discrimmination still exists i see.. very sad.

Given that I am very conversant with the Equality Act.... And regardless of how disabled you are or what is wrong with you, I guarantee that I am more disabled than you are!...

Absolutely nobody said that disabled people shouldn't be able to work or to do this work - except you! the law does not prevent someone with a disability from being dismissed. And it is clear that adjustments - if required, and you haven't proven that they are - must only be reasonable. It is not reasonable to expect the employer to excuse you a key point of the job, or to expect that responsibility to fall on everyone except you!

Sleep ins are a standard and expected part of much care work, and if you cannot do them, then you cannot do the job. The law does not expect an employer to change the job for you. That isn't an adjustment. It's creating a role specially for you. If you are awake and working then you should be paid and it seems that you are. If you are awake simply because you are awake, that is the same tough luck as a sleepless night at home. And if your aren't awake then why are you tired?

Now whether you like it or not - and regardless of who here agrees with it or not - the employer is acting lawfully. And if you turn around and tell them that you can't do your job and are too tired because of your disability, then you are telling them that your disabilities prevents you from doing the job. That is grounds to legally dismiss you.

I would strongly suggest that you listen carefully to the advice you are being given. You may not like it, but it's good advice. You don't know it yet, obviously, but you are teetering on the brink of being let go. If that's what you want, then fine. But if it isn't I'd suggest that you stick your head down, cope for now, and find something better. Quite possibly not in care work, because that often involves long hours and sleep ins.

One final piece of advice. Talk to your employers like you talked to people here, and you'll be leaving much faster. Being disabled doesn't entitle you to anything much, and acting like it does is the fastest route out of the door I know!

sitesafe

I've worked in 24 hour roles before - fine when not disturbed at night but often we'd be up for hours in the middle of the night if a client absconded - on the phone to police then social services and other staff, completing missing persons forms. Then you'd get the call - usually around 4 am - the absconder has been found been found and you had to go and collect them. No chance of getting back to sleep then. Next morning whilst client blissfully asleep you're filling in reams of paperwork and relaying updates to incoming staff. Usually we would go home as it was 24 hour shifts but annoying to spend your 'day off' catching up with sleep and being disturbed by work phone calls about the night before. I really don't think it's right to be expected to continuously work the next day after a significantly disturbed night - especially when you are caring for vulnerable adults or young people - you need to be refreshed and alert and even tempered. Working while exhausted is not a good thing. Good luck with sorting things out.

sangie595

sitesafe wrote: »

I've worked in 24 hour roles before - fine when not disturbed at night but often we'd be up for hours in the middle of the night if a client absconded - on the phone to police then social services and other staff, completing missing persons forms. Then you'd get the call - usually around 4 am - the absconder has been found been found and you had to go and collect them. No chance of getting back to sleep then. Next morning whilst client blissfully asleep you're filling in reams of paperwork and relaying updates to incoming staff. Usually we would go home as it was 24 hour shifts but annoying to spend your 'day off' catching up with sleep and being disturbed by work phone calls about the night before. I really don't think it's right to be expected to continuously work the next day after a significantly disturbed night - especially when you are caring for vulnerable adults or young people - you need to be refreshed and alert and even tempered. Working while exhausted is not a good thing. Good luck with sorting things out.

However, there is a difference between "not right" (in your opinion) and unlawful. And I assume that since you say that you have worked long hours in care in the past, you no longer do so. That is a choice - the same choice the OP had been told they have. You simply find another job, not expect the job to change around you.

In reality, I doubt many people in this thread agree that sleep in allowances aren't entirely "fair" and that people shouldn't be paid properly if they are at work etc. But those are opinions. Opinions don't matter. Law does. And the OP is not challenging the "system" - they are objecting to it for themselves only, and on the dubious basis of disability. Disability is not a carte Blanche to have your own way at work, and as a disabled person I find that attitude really offensive. If someone genuinely can't do the job due to disability, they shouldn't be in the job, no more than someone who isn't strong enough to lift a person shouldn't be a firefighter, or someone who isn't terribly good at planning shouldn't be a planner! Disability isn't a unique human category. It is part of a human spectrum that makes us all different. Having reasonable adjustments to enable someone to do the job as well as someone without a disability is the right thing to do. But adjustments that make the job something different, or which put the disabled person in a better position are not only wrong, but are not required in law either.