AIBU to quit this job?

[anastasia38494032010]

Right. So I am a competent, young professional. (Modest too, but no place for modesty here)

I work for a local bank, in the main, biggest branch. As every other bank, this branch has "sister" branches, obviously not all of them in the city.

I started working in January, in a part time, not a senior/management role (think cashier/teller type, though not really, much more expanded). My 4 hours/day always turned into 6 or 7 on bad days, bad management, lovely team though. Well the area manager obviously has something against me, she always shouts at me for no reason, asks me to do even more overtime, called me on my holidays while I was abroad to come to work, etc

Final straw: She asks me to commute everyday, FULL TIME, for 5 weeks, to a sister branch and help there. I did that, no comments, got some pay in lieu, whatever. My DD and DH were really "happy". So were my dogs and my new cat :)

That's not the problem however. Then, when I came back she told me I'll move there for at least 5-6 months until they find someone to hire, as the girl who worked there will soon leave on mat leave.

Problem is: she didn't ask me, she told me I'll go there, which I don't want to for obvious reasons: 50 miles away, commuting time (I don't drive), team.

WWYD???

What does your contract say?

Tbh I'd do a different job anyway, banks are closing like there is no tomorrow.

It sounds miserable, but when I used to work in a bank (admittedly many years ago) it was part of your terms and conditions that you could be transferred elsewhere at any time if staff were needed. When we accepted the job, we accepted that part as well.

Is it in your contract?

If its not in your contract to be moved to another branch without mutual agreement, politely decline. Tell her straight, while you did a favour during staffing issues at this sister branch you cannot commit to 5/6 months there as it will negatively impact on your family.

Unless your contract is mobile rather than for a specific branch there will normally be a limit on how far you can be reasonably expected to relocate. Check your terms and conditions or policy on the intranet. However you may be looking at this the wrong way, if you are good at what you do the am may be genuinely trying to give you different opportunities. Have you ever said no to working elsewhere or extra hours?

I just checked my contract. It says my branch is xxxxxxx but I may be required to work at other places with notice lalalalal. Point is: may be required doesn't mean 5 fucking months. I am so so so confused

Speak to acas?

I'd start looking for a new job. What's that clause in your contract regarding overtime? Can you refuse to do full time hours?

Even with a mobility clause in your contract employers still have to act reasonably. I would suggest you contact acas to see what your employers responsibility is to you and you to them.

Start keeping a record of all of her demands with dates and times. I'm not suggesting this could be constructive dismissal (as it's very hard to prove) but it sounds like she's making your life a bit of a misery and telling you to come into work when you are on annual leave is not acceptable. So it would be worth keeping a record. IF it turned out to be constructive dismissal then you couldn't claim it until you have been there for two years anyway. With that in mind, at the moment (before two years) they can pretty much just get rid of you so you might decide to just go along with it and look for another job in the interim. This is why I suggest calling acas as they should be able to best advise with the next steps.

Have a look at this employment.law-ondemand.com/mobility-clauses-and-redundancy/ and google mobility clause. I was made redundant several years ago because my company were relocating and whilst I had a job at the new location it was over X number of miles away and so they needed to make us redundant if we didn't want to move, as the distance wouldn't be reasonable. I checked at the time and I believe there was a legal distance. Perhaps it might be worth looking that up, even though we're not talking redundancy here.

In your shoes I would be looking for another job as a back up, but also looking into the above points to see where you stand.