to not want to do six days at work one week and four the next?

[ThinkIveBeenHacked]

Shifts given over seven days, work five in seven. Shifts can start as early as 7.30am and finish as late as 11pm.

Ive been scheduled six day next week, without beig asked if I can, and then four days the following week. I feel boss should have asked if I would mind my schedule looking this way but they havent. In a message I have asked if they can look at the schedule as it appears I only have one day off that week.

Response is that I am needed and have three days off the following week.

I am halfway through a pregnancy, have a toddler, and those six shifts will be all in a row, added on to the two from the previous week, so eight On followed by one off.

I want two days off, or to have at least been asked, or for my boss to up her hours if we are that desperate. The first day off of the week after is the first day of that week so only a day later than what it could have been.

Am I just being snippy or should I stand my ground?

Is the 6 day week a one off?
As long as you're getting 11 hours break between shifts then I don't think there is much you can do about it.

This is excessive in my opinion.
I absolutely think you should stand your ground and ask why this has happened and why you weren't consulted.

I think if you look at your contract it will say they can do this. There's normally a clause in shift worker contracts about average hours per week and meeting business needs.

It is a one off. Ive worked for four years in this dept.and never had a six day week.

We dont get regular eleven hour breaks between shifts -at least once a week I not more I finish at 11pm and amback at my desk for 7.30am. The rules in this industry state that as long as reasonable rest time is given in a week, when doing back to back shifts we do not need to have (legally) that gap.

I dont know if my anger is because I wasnt consulted or because my boss isnt doing any extra.

It is an important week (equivalent of Ofsted in our industry) so I get why she needs extra hands but she isnt doing any extra nor are any of the other 12 people in the department

I didn't think that any industry was exempt from the Working Time Directive!

Sadly yes....ill try and find the link I use when anyone says I should have longer gaps.

Hmm have you had a risk assessment?

I would have thought 8 days in a row was unreasonable?

"You are entitled to an uninterrupted rest period of not less than 24 hours in each 7 days during which you are working for the employer. However the employer can substitute two uninterrupted rest periods, each of which is not less than 24 hours in each 14-day period or may substitute one uninterrupted rest period of not less than 48 hours in each 14-day period."

You def have to have 11 hours off between shifts.

Is it health care? Health care is exempt from working time directive. I don't get 11 hours between shifts. Often only 9 hours inbetween.

Agenda for change in the nhs says you must have a minimum of one day off a week.

Hacked it is crap. Happens where I work. Managers just shrug and say that as long as your hours average out over the month they won't change it. I've known people have over 50 hours one week and 12 the next.

I thought eight days in a row was UR too Random but last time I started a thread on that here I was told I Wbu and that it was natural with shiftwork.

I am not a lawyer, though I have been a pregnant worker a number of times. It doesn't sit very well that you are the only one working extra. It is poor form that the manager isn't upping her hours. I am not sure how you can address it, though.

Hotels.

She probably will end up staying on extra hour here and there each of her five days but doesnt seem to want to work an extra day

have they done a risk assessment for you and your pregnancy? (sorry, can't remember if there is a 'proper' name for them)
Can you invoke that and point out that you need your breaks in order to keep well and that you're really sorry, if everybody else was also working such a long stretch then it would be one thing and still really difficult for you. However, as nobody else is, then there is obviously room in the system for some people not to such a long stretch and that at the moment, as you are pregnant and affected much more by this stuff than others are, it is reasonable that you are the last on the list to be chosen to be the one that does the long shift, not the first.

And of course if you ask and somebody else ends up working a long stretch and they know you asked for your long stretch to be changed then that means that you are being unreasonable whereas if the manager had given it to them in the first case nobody would have thought twice that you are the one that is last to get a long stretch.

Are the others all a bit more argumentative or friendly with the manager - did she give it to you because she thought you would be the one to give her the least grief?

Hope you manage to get it changed!

Had a risk assessment done - is all a bit vague tbh but im going to ask to have a look at it properly tomorrow with HR.

random 8 days in a row is not UR, according to that quote you can work 12 days in a row then have 2 days off. So 2 days off in a fortnight. The OP would have 4 days off in the fortnight.

I think as a one-off (which it presumably will be if this is the 'ofsted' week) then you are best off just going with it. Make it clear it is to be a one-off though. But you aren't going against working time directives by swapping days off like this, and you are working the right number of days overall, so you are not working extra.

The way my schedule looks, sunday 8th - sat 21st (14 days) im in twelve of those days and off for two (separate days not adjacent).

Still fits in working time directive. You have 2 days off in a fortnight- they don't have to be adjacent. I was just showing that you can work up to 12 days in a row, so 8 isn't unreasonable. The following week you will have ample rest time to recover.

I'm sorry, I get that you are pregnant and have a toddler- but the toddler can't really be classed as extenuating circumstances as there will be lots of people whose work is affected by home, health or personal life. And if you really don't think you can work the shifts because of your pregnancy, that should have been put in your risk assessment, I presume you had to read it and sign it?

Nope I havent signed it. I was told verbally alongside another pg employee what it entails

That used to be my normal shift pattern (care home), when pregnant with DD I also used to do 12 days on 2 off for almost all of the pregnancy. I get that it's frustrating though if it's not what you're used to and you weren't even asked. Do you genuinely think your health will be effected? If so then it's worth pursuing. If it's just that you're annoyed because of lack of consultation and/or your boss not doing extra then personally I'd leave it as it is just a one off.