Any HR or employment law people about?

[NaiceNickname]

Question for a friend

She currently works in retail, 20 hour contract at Work #1, and 20 hours at Work #2.

When hired at Work #1, she told them that she couldn't work weekends as Work #2 was set weekend hours - no problem they said, they'll work around it.

After a while, people didn't like it and started whinging because they never got weekends off like friend.. even though she was working another job so not 'off'. They asked her to provide proof of working for Work #2 which she did, which shut them up for a while.

She eventually moved to another branch in the same company and made clear to the manager of this branch that she could not work weekends - again absolutely fine, not needed as weekends already overstaffed. Been there since April, and now the area manager has just been to see her to ask why she can't work weekends and has told her that she has to provide wage slips for Work #2 and then he will authorise weekends off for a maximum of 3 months.

Can they do this? It's not like this was her main job and she has since taken on a weekend job which is now affecting her main one, it's the other way around. What does she do after 3 months and Work #1 start demanding she works weekends and she can't unless she quits Work #2 which she won't do as she actually earns more for 2 days work there than she does for 2 days work at Work #1, but there are no more hours to be had at Work #2 so she can't.

Hope that makes sense! Any help or advice would be appreciated

[Hoppinggreen]

Get this moved to Employment, there are plenty of helpful and knowledgeable people on there

[NaiceNickname]

Have asked for it to be moved, thanks!

Forgot to mention that although she mentioned in initial other view for the job that she can't work weekends, the manager conveniently forgot to take note of this one thing and so hasn't factored it into her contract. She asked for a copy of her interview notes the first time this started in the old branch and this was the only major detail that wasn't taken note of.

[TwoNoisyBoys]

There's some very useful information for this topic on the citizens advice website, www.adviceguide.org.uk

[Fizrim]

When she applied for the job originally, did it state weekends needed to be worked? I would think it's pretty unusual to get a retail job that doesn't require working some weekends tbh.

[NaiceNickname]

No set days fizrim, just as and when needed but she did state she couldn't do weekends and they insisted no problem, even hiring her over people who could work weekends.

[Viviennemary]

I'm no expert but if she has been there less than two years I don't think she has much of a case legally. If she has been there longer I still think they could say that the company now requires her to work weekends. I suppose if she had it in writing that she would never be required to work weekends she might have a case but otherwise I don't think she would. Hope it gets sorted out.

[YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet]

Hi OP, as requested, just shifting this to Employment for you.

[flowery]

What exactly does her contract actually say about working hours?

How long has she worked for the company?

[ragged]

I'd be looking for another job to replace Work 1.

[NaiceNickname]

Hi Flowery, as far as i am aware it's just your basic '20 hours per week on days to be arranged/shifts cam be changed with 24 hours notice' type contract, no set days just a guarantee of 20 hours. She has worked for the company since October last year and switched to a different branch in April to start her management programme.

I know she probabky hasn't a leg to stand on but it just seems so unfair, it's like they have purposely left it out of her interview notes and contract so that they can use it against her when it suits them. Luckily her manager now is willing to fight for her and say he doesn't need her on weekends but if the area manager overrules him then she is screwed.

[flowery]

Well, she could try and argue that because she's never worked weekends in 8 months, that is now her terms and conditions even if it doesn't specify that in her contract.

But the problem is, 8 months isn't long, retail usually involves weekends, plus as she's only been there such a short time, they could just terminate her employment and re-employ her on the basis of working weekends anyway, so such an argument would basically be pointless. And for the same reason, having access to her interview notes and even having it specified in her contract wouldn't really help her to be honest, as they could as I say just sack her and start again.

[ragged]

If she likes the job & rarely has to deal with Arse manager then probably best to stand her ground & let her Line Manager face up to the Arse. Probably the Arse will have forgotten about it or will have bigger fish to fry in 3 months.

[Fizrim]

I am amazed she has managed to get a place on any kind of retail management training when she is unwilling to work weekends. What was she planning to do at the end? If she isn't thinking of working longer hours for job 1, then it's probably time to start looking elsewhere.