Am I being unreasonable?

RedFinn

Hello all,

Could do with a little non-partisan advice! I work for one of the large supermarkets and booked October half-term off in order to be able to spend some time with my children, however, my employer declined to give me the Saturday of that week off. Because of how my shifts work, and combined with that holiday, I am off from Saturday 20th Oct and don't return until Thur 1st Nov, with the exception of that Saturday (27th) where my shift is for 4 hours.

I would like to be able to take the family away and not be compelled to return early solely for one shift of 4 hours. So, with that in mind, I requested that I take it unpaid and that perhaps another colleague could cover it (common practice which allows other colleagues to earn a bit more, should they so choose) which was met with a blank refusal to even consider it from my manager, whose message consisted of "no, too many people on holiday and anyway, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" (relayed to me by one of the admin staff)

Now, this has really got my back up and has moved beyond initially being irked about the day in question, is he suggesting that only people who do him favours get any assistance and I'm wondering how this will impact me going forward? He's relatively new and has been putting me down for shift swaps which I cannot do because of family commitments and even though I decline them I am still appearing on schedules as though I have accepted.

I'm tempted to raise this with the store manager (we don't have HR anymore), should I?

Comms69

Do you want to keep your job?

RedFinn

Well that depends on whether I am required to "scratch his back" by leaving my children home alone in order to be on his good side.

Comms69

RedFinn wrote: »

Well that depends on whether I am required to "scratch his back" by leaving my children home alone in order to be on his good side.

That's up to you; your childcare issues aren't for your employer to sort out.


Leave is requested and can be approved or denied.


I get your frustration, but maybe start looking elsewhere?

ACG

A large supermarket will have a HR department.

I remember when I worked for a bank (admittedly about 10 years ago), I asked for a day off (with less than 24 hours notice), they said no. I was still quite young at the time and had been on the beer all day so told them I would not be in the next day laughing and then hung up - looking back, I would have fired me but we are all young at stupid at some point.

Went in after the event to be pulled in to a disciplinary (who can blame them?) Disciplinary went ahead, after it I came out without a blemish on my file (to this day, I am still surprised about that and fully expected to at least get a final warning if not sacked). Their reasoning behind it.... The person I spoke to should have tried to find an alternative, ie switching my shift to a later/earlier or swapping with another member of staff.

So using that purely as my reasoning, I would push it to someone higher if needs be. But bare in mind this will probably get his back up and he may end up looking for reasons to manage you out.

RedFinn

Comms69, You seem to be confused concerning employers responsibilities, I have contracted hours, they cannot compel me to work outside of those hours without consulting me about what hours I am able to give them and build a matrix around availability.

It certainly isn't permissable for any company to treat some members of staff differently because they have other responsibilities.

RedFinn

Due to recent nationwide changes there are no longer instore HR, and corporate HR don't deal with issues like this.

He already seems to have an issue with me, so I'm thinking I may as well grab the bull by the horns!

warby68

Its half term and too many people are off.

Its not unreasonable to refuse you.

Its two sides of the same coin - its only 4 hours but they are of 'high value' to both you and your employer.

If 'policy' has been followed then yes, unfortunately you are being unreasonable as its the employer's call whether and when leave is granted.

I wouldn't read too much into the back scratching comment relayed by a third party.

Chickenlips

If you find a colleague willing to cover and present this to him, I would say no: you're not being unreasonable. If he turns it down despite having cover for that shift, I would escalate the matter as I'd argue there is no valid reason to turn down the reasonable request.

If you're expecting your boss to find someone else to do the shift you don't want to do: yes, that's unreasonable.

You're off Saturday to Saturday so could take a 7 day trip with your family. It's not as though it's the Wednesday in the middle.

If there are many people off, he may already be taking a risk by granting you leave. I was once granted leave whilst several people were already off: despite assuming it would be turned down. I was greatful for the time off and agreed to do work out of my patch before leave to assist my employer.

Perhaps what they meant by scratching backs is he will authorise it if you find cover.

Comms69

RedFinn wrote: »

Comms69, You seem to be confused concerning employers responsibilities, I have contracted hours, they cannot compel me to work outside of those hours without consulting me about what hours I am able to give them and build a matrix around availability.

It certainly isn't permissable for any company to treat some members of staff differently because they have other responsibilities.

Not at all.


If you think having kids means anything; it doesn't.


I cant read your contract, but I suspect if they wanted to, they could make life very difficult.

RedFinn

Warby68, that's just it, if we were talking about this week I would agree with you, however (at the time of asking) it was two weeks in advance. Common policy is to either put it out as available hours to other colleagues who may want the hours, if no takers then tough, I would have to work. His blank refusal to do even countenance it leads me to believe there is plenty of credence to the back scratching comment.