Internal Secondment Interview During Holiday Period

sparkymcg

I am wondering if anyone knows if I was treated unfairly and if anything can happen about it?
A post came up in my work and I showed interest in it but they initially said it wouldn't be offered as a secondment and then they changed their minds and offered it as a secondment to people in my department. Anyway the interview process was scheduled to happen whilst I was on holiday and they refused to be flexible and have it on other dates. I work shifts and I am allocated these holidays before the start of the year by the company.
I work dayshift and backshift currently and was due to go onto straight dayshifts from October to December and would have all my weekends free. However somebody from another site got the secondment role and I have been told I've to cover his shifts which are dayshift, backshift and nightshift. Therefore I'm loosing out on my stint of dayshifts which my other colleagues got to do during the first 3/4s of the year. I'll also have to work nightshifts and won't have all my weekends free.

So is there anything I can do about being unfairly treated with the secondment issue? Also anything I can do about loosing out on the dayshifts I was meant to do?(As when my other colleagues got to do the dayshift role they were not doing what they usually do and had opportunities to learn new skills)

Undervalued

sparkymcg wrote: »

I am wondering if anyone knows if I was treated unfairly and if anything can happen about it?
A post came up in my work and I showed interest in it but they initially said it wouldn't be offered as a secondment and then they changed their minds and offered it as a secondment to people in my department. Anyway the interview process was scheduled to happen whilst I was on holiday and they refused to be flexible and have it on other dates. I work shifts and I am allocated these holidays before the start of the year by the company.
I work dayshift and backshift currently and was due to go onto straight dayshifts from October to December and would have all my weekends free. However somebody from another site got the secondment role and I have been told I've to cover his shifts which are dayshift, backshift and nightshift. Therefore I'm loosing out on my stint of dayshifts which my other colleagues got to do during the first 3/4s of the year. I'll also have to work nightshifts and won't have all my weekends free.

So is there anything I can do about being unfairly treated with the secondment issue? Also anything I can do about loosing out on the dayshifts I was meant to do?(As when my other colleagues got to do the dayshift role they were not doing what they usually do and had opportunities to learn new skills)

Short answer is no I'm afraid.

As far as the interview is concerned, "Unfairly" is not the same thing as unlawfully. It would only be unlawful if the real reason was because of a protected characteristic (such as race, gender, sexual orientation, religion etc).

Holiday - an employer can almost totally dictate when you can and cannot take your holiday. Your right is to a minimum of 28 days per year but unless you contract says otherwise you have no freedom as to when.

Change of shifts comes down to your contract. If that specifies specific arrangements which they now want to change you may have a valid argument. However if it is more vague or requires you to be flexible you are likely stuck with this.

TELLIT01

No they are not treating you unfairly. They have set a date for interviews and you can't attend. That's unfortunate for you but the company has a role to be filled. What would happen if they changed the interview dates to meet your requirements but other applicants were away then? Do they postpone again, or is it hard luck for the others?