Roster Issue

gerod76

Hi All,
I am employed for over 10 years with my current employer. For the last 5 years I have a verbal agreement with them that I only work monday to thursday day or nights because of family commitments ie. my wife works at the weekends and I mind the kids where she minds the kids during the week when I work. Recently I have been told that my roster will be changing due to a dispute with another employee and that I will have to start doing weekends. I have informed my employer that I am unable to find a babysitter for my kids because my family members and my wifes family members have there own lives to lead and there are no childcare premises open saturdays and sundays. I was told that the roster is changing and thats that. My wife is unable to change her work schedule and we dont know what to do. I like my job and I dont want to leave it but I feel I am being backed into a corner.
Any suggestions or advice will be greatly heeded

Procrastastudy

gerod76 wrote: »

Any suggestions or advice will be greatly heeded

Careful of heeding advice off the interweb - its frequently incorrect. With that disclaimer firmly in place:

After 13 weeks 'custom and practice' takes effect essentially meaning the roster you have been working becomes part of your contract. They can alter it but it requires a consultation IIRC. I would contact NERA and try and get a more official response. I believe there is also some provision for flexibility for family people.

okiss

Since you now have to work weekends I would ask your employer how many weekends a month they would expect you to work?
I would ask your family members if they would know of any suitable who would be glad to mind the children then.
I would also put a advertisement in the local paper such as - Couple seek childminder for children aged /// for x number of weekends a month & give a mobile phone number for people to contact you. You could also put up an advert on the Fas website for this also.
Also do you have a local school or college who have a childcare, social care, teaching, nursing or montessori course as most students are looking for weekend work.
If you contact the college they may be able to help you get someone.
I knew one girl who was training as a montessori teacher and she worked weekends and during the holidays. This girl was great with children, had a full driving licience and had first aid.

gerod76

Thanks for both of your replies. In relation to to your suggestions okiss at the moment we cannot afford to employ a child minder at the weekends. In relation to my family and my wifes family some of them work weekends and I cannot expect people who work during the week to mind a child who still wakes up during the night for a nappy change and a bottle feeding. The roster is a 3 week roster and I would be doing weekend of days one week and a weekend of nights another and then a weekend off.

greengold9999

The first question is do you have a written contract? If you do the answer may lie in there for example any clauses that allow for roster change. Start there.
If there is no written contract or there is no clear clause that allows them to enforce the change you are back to consideration of whether (1) they can enforce the change and (2) whether you feel in a position to challenge it. As regards (1) there is no clear legal answer when there is no contract (especially if you are at no financial loss) - the kind of questions the employer would be asked to justify imposing it are... what does the contract say? Has this roster varied in the past? What consultation happened to try to agree change? What is the business imperative that requires this? The problem with this of course is the extent to which you feel that you are able to challenge this and possibly ultimately end up at a legal hearing.
If I was you I would try again to talk to your employer informally, explain the difficulty and ask can there be some negotiation. If you can, email him after the meeting to summarise what happened - at the least write yourself some minutes, sign and date them. If that does not get you anywhere then you will have to think about lodging a formal grievance - if the worst happened and you have to resign you will have to show that you made some effort to put your employer on notice of your complaint.

Mrs OBumble

gerod76 wrote: »

... my roster will be changing due to a dispute with another employee

Do you know what this dispute is about?

Did you have a fight with someone?

Or is someone else being disciplined, and complaining about your rights to not work weekends?


I too would suggest a chat with NERA or your union. It's possible that you are being constructively dismissed, but only an employment law specialist can advise you here.