To think this is discrimination

[Hiptrip]

I work in a 365 days a year industry. My colleagues and I, have to provide cover over Christmas.

As I worked over Christmas and New Year last year, I booked and was promised this year off. I have this in writing.

Two colleagues have announced that they can't get childcare, and now management have come back to me and said I have to work. (Single, no kids was planning to have fun with friends and family. Shouldn't have mentioned it in my break at work.)

I have now received a written directive that my leave is cancelled, with the threat of disciplinary if I don't turn up.

No unions here, but what are my chances of claiming constructive dismissal if I don't go to work?

We are a team of twelve and those with families, who are rostered to work have a month to sort themselves out, as does everyone else. Why should it be me that has to come in the whole time, along with our unfortunate manager who has no choice because she is in charge?

@FireCracker2 they can explore other avenues before saying they can’t get childcare. Most childminders don’t work Christmas Day, but a few do. You can and will be able to find childcare. It may be more expensive but that isn’t OPs problem.

Say that unfortunately you have to look after an elderly relative this year and as such cannot find replacement care for them, and that it was why you booked it when you did. They cannot discriminate between you and someone with kids.

billybagpuss

I’m not saying for one minute that people with young kids get priority but childcare is an issue for some

My family have never and would never have looked after my DC on Christmas Day or any other day, and as XH and XPIL live nearly 400 miles away that wasn’t an option either

Lots of people missing the point.It's a case that people with young children deserve to have xmas off more, it's a case that if they have no childcare they cannot work .The length of time they have to sort it out is irrelevant if they have no one to take the kids.

And again - that's really not OPs problem. She was promised the day off, she booked the day off. They are not her kids and their care isn't her concern.

I actually worked Christmas my son’s second Christmas (My first back at work after mat leave) as I’d been off for the entirety of the previous year as I was on mat leave, and thought it only fair to let some one else have the chance. My work place is quite good through and generally if you have Christmas off one year, you work it the following year. Shouldn’t matter if you have children or not. Yes it’s nice to do Christmassy things with them but you have to fit it in around work

No, don't invent an elderly relation. Don't get involved in a game of competitive need. You worked last CD and have made other arrangements - and that is that.

RavenWings is right. There's a doormat in my office: it's on the floor between the exit and the lifts and it is inanimate. We don't need another.

Zukiecat - if you arranged to meet Pagan friends on Yule (when you were not due to work) you might not appreciate being told you must come in because of somebody else's children needing care.

The office hero is a volunteer, not a conscript

Beautifully put That hero's pedestal can also be a pretty uncomfortable place, especially when you know that this year's lip service - "oooo you're sooo kind, I promise I'll definitely work next year so you can have it" - will be forgotten when the time comes and the entitlement kicks in again

And yes, undoubtably there are some who genuinely can't get childcare no matter how hard they try ... but IME there are far more to whom "no childcare" is simply a gambit to get what they want

it's a case that if they have no childcare they cannot work

And of all the people for whom that is a responsibility, the OP isn't one

Utter rot,no can’t fake or feign sudden religious conversion just to get AL
More fruitful is explore why op AL being changed,the sudden change
and present the written confirmation she has xmas off as AL

Andrewofgg

That has happened on many a time, think I said as much in my post

It’s not always possible to get the time off to celebrate it, I am actually entitled to take the eight Sabbats off, but I don’t

I have grown up DC, so I’ve never minded being asked to work if someone can’t because of not having childcare, I remember what it was like when my own DC we’re young

Ugh thats shit and unfair OP.

The only job I ever had where I had to work xmas was in a pub. We were so lucky in that among the staff there were parents with kids who would prefer xmas off, and people without who would prefer new year. I was one of those without who preferred new year

How it usually worked out was that one of the people who wanted new year instead of xmas, got xmas and new year and vice versa. But each year, people got the shifts they actually wanted. I know this is quite irrelevant to your situation but thats how it worked out there, which I am grateful for as there was not ill feeling among the staff.

My mum works in a carehome and they have a similar setup, though somehow this year she has managed to get xmas eve, xmas, boxing day and new years day off. God knows how she managed that. Though she has been covering shifts at short notice for people recently so maybe she built up enough 'favour'

If people are not happy to do this though, a rota for each xmas is obviously needed.But if you have a rota already that has been ignored, then I honestly son't know. But the manager should not be prioritizing people with kids over those without. Christmas is not just for kids. And I say that with 2 under 5s myself.

I work freelance so I don’t have to face this sort of crap (plenty of other crap to make up for it, mind).

When posters are saying, my work has the right to cancel my leave at any time, does that mean if you book, say, a non refundable 10 days in the Bahamas for Christmas, back in July, and your employer tells you in November that your leave is cancelled - that’s it??

You lose your deposit, you have no recourse to tell them to get to fuck object?

Shirley knot. 😲

@ButchyRestingFace I think technically that is entirely possible. My old boss tried something similar with me once. He rang me on my way to the airport and told me that my out of office wasn’t suitable and I had to come into work to change it as signing in my emails using my phone breached data protection.
He was a twat.
Fortunately his boss was not and told him to stop being ridiculous.

Op rocks up feigning a religious conversion, sure as shit it’ll not help
On mn folk dole out some really stupid advice,and this is climbing the charts
And when op tries to use this sudden conversion to obtain AL it’ll look hookey
More fruitful is Pursuing with HR and fact she was previously guaranteed time off

zukiecat You and I are probably siblings in the soul; my bark is worse than my bite and - except during those fleeting few years when DS was small and I guarded family time jealously - I have generally been happy to pick up the slack for parents when asked politely and when DW and I had nothing special planned. Like you I remember those days.

But OP is not being asked politely - she is being ordered to work on a day for which she has been given leave and has made other arrangements. Even if that is not illegal it is piss-poor management and her manager must think again and tell one of the parents concerned to sort out her needs (and not at OP's expense) and be there.

I think you should suck it up.

You chose a job where you could be working on any day of the year.

This really makes me angry.

Since when is Christmas just about kids? Your company has a responsibility to its employees and not their children.

What if you spend Christmas with your ageing mother for whom this may be her last?

I have 2 kids and one on the way and if my DH had to work Christmas I would totally accept it if It was his turn. It will be in their contract that they have to work bank holidays as required.

Plus, are they both single parents who are planning to spend Christmas alone with their kids? Smells like bullshit to me.

If they are allowed to do that this year, what it to stop them doing it every year. They have known for 12 months that they would be working Christmas. Not ideal but that is not your fault. Why shouldn't you be allowed to spend Christmas how you want?

@ButchyRestingFace I think technically that is entirely possible

Fuck me, you poor, poor bastards.

And imagine if you lost that 2 week trip just so little Johnny’s mamma could watch him open whatever overpriced shite they’d bought for him this year. 😱

OP is not being asked politely - she is being ordered to work on a day for which she has been given leave and has made other arrangements

Let's not forget she's now also being sworn at and called a "selfish cow" for daring to stand up to the entitlement

@DogPerson As did the rest of her colleagues who seem to think that they don’t have to work Xmas.

A thread came up about this a few weeks ago and I nearly left Mumsnet because of it because as someone who cant have children the things that were said about people like me were truely disgusting. And I know there are a lot of people who will refuse to get this because they dont want to but let me try to explain this with maths:

I started full time work when I was 18. For the sake of some easy maths lets say I retire when I am 78. I cant have childen so all of you saying that people like me should just work christmas to be kind, you are expecting me to work 60 Christmas's out of my life. Because its not just you and your kids, but the next person to have children and the next. I would never get to have Christmas with my own parents even when they are old. I would never get to have christmas with my nephew or my husband. For 60 years!! And apparently I'm the fucking selfish one.

I'm not selfish, I'm a human being with as many rights and feelings as the next person. As is anyone without children who may want to not work Christmas because its their turn for a year off.

Op when does your holiday period run? If its January to December and cancelling your holiday will leave you unable to take your full holiday allowance they cannot cancel it. I wouod definately phone acas and ask for advice or a union if you have one