Or are my employers?

[Oneinthegrave]

I clean for a well known pub company, I work 12 hours a week only, for some reason my contract says 9. I work in the early morning before DP goes to work to avoid paying out for childcare.

This morning I was told there’s a meeting thats absolutely compulsory tomorrow at 9.30pm and that it’s been advertised on the facebook group for weeks.

I don’t have a Facebook account, nor do I want one.

This morning is the first time I’ve been told about the meeting. My manager says if i don’t attend, i’ll face disciplinary action.

DP works late then goes straight to his hobby on Mondays (which I never work anyway) and doesn’t get back until gone 10pm. DS is 11 months, The only childcare option i ever have is DM and DF who live 30 miles away, but are on a cruise for another week.
Can they discipline me for not attending? There’s no other notices apart from the one on Facebook

They definitely can't discipline you.
Furthermore, there needs to be a minimum of 11 hours between shifts. So if you are in at 5am and the meeting only starts at 9:30pm then they are breaking the law!! So ask this dick head manager how the disciplinary will stand if what you refused to do was illegal???!!!!
What a fucking nob!!!
Stand your ground on this one OP

Furthermore, there needs to be a minimum of 11 hours between shifts. It's an uninterrupted 11hr break in a 24hr period, so OP could work 5am - 9am, have a 12hr uninterrupted break, then be back at work at 9:30pm.

I do think the manager is being an unreasonable arse (and the husband too if I'm totally honest) and I don't think the OP should be disciplined at all, that's fucking ridiculous, but companies tend to do what they like when they're confident the employees won't rock the boat.

I get what posters are saying about how your husband could be more supportive.

But why should he have to give up his hobby to essentially facilitate a very unreasonable request from his wife's employers?

Can you imagine if a woman posted this in reverse, I suspect they would have been told that it is DH's/his employers problem not hers and to go to her hobby and let DH sort out childcare if he wanted to go to the meeting.

Secondly with the type of job the OP is doing it's fairly common for people to have more than one job. I've done a cleaning type job in the mornings and then done bar work somewhere else in the evenings. What would OPs employer have expected her to do if she was supposed to be working somewhere else rather than 'just' doing childcare?

If they are so hot on technology that they're now using Facebook as an official channel to notify staff of a meeting (they can't do this by the way, it's a form of harassment by exclusion as not everyone has a Facebook account. They need to ensure all staff are notified by appropriate channels. It's not your problem you don't have an account, it's theirs and theirs to sort), then surely you can Skype in via someone's mobile or laptop rather than actually be there.
Given the lack of notice etc this is discriminatory and they would do well to accommodate a request of remote dial in.

Take your DS in with you if that isn't too inconvenient. But I see the meeting is at 9.30pm. I don't think that is very reasonable at all considering the hours you work. Say the babysitter let you down.

How long have you been there op? Lots. Of posters telling you to tell them they are breaking the law etc might be right, but you may need this job and they could just get rid of you.

As this is a one off and unusual and if you need the job, I assume you don't do it for the fun of it, then I'd probably just go in this instance.

OP you are being shorted out on your holiday hours! If you work 12 hrs per week, you accrue holiday on 12 hours not 9. I would contact HMRC regarding this as you would be owed money for unpaid holiday and I bet you aren't only one.

I think if OP doesn't work Monday her uninterrupted 11 hours break can be before the meeting for Monday and after her shift for Tuesday.

But if you usually work 12 hours you should get 12 hours for a week's holiday. They changed the legislation a few years back so you get paid what you usually work, calculated over the last few months (I know this because a worked in a place that did random amounts of overtime every other weekend and it gave finance a massive headache to calculate our holiday pay).

Way too short notice & ive been both an employer & an employee.

I wouldn’t miss a weekly commitment (which is what I consider a hobby to be) & I would not expect dh to either with such short notice.

Agree on the 11 hours - see here www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work

Plus annual leave MUST be calculated on hours worked if the hours worked are more than what is in the contract. So look back and work out what they owe you.

I wouldn’t go, but then im stubborn bugger and refuse to be walked over by employers.
I work part time and am often asked to go in for training/meetings on my non working days. If I can go I will and likewise if I can for childcare reasons then I won’t.

I’d just tell them it’s too short notice to arrange childcare and therefore you are unable to make it. If they threaten disciplinary then I would politely remind them that it’s not during your working time, it’s short notice as you are not on Facebook you didn’t receive sufficient notice and that it would be discriminatory to discipline you when you cannot attend for childcare reasons.

Fuck them!

Yes so the 11 hour break has to be between working days. So she can't be asked to attend the late night meeting on Monday and be in work again at 5am on Tuesday

This wouldn’t be O’Neil’s would it? They are absolute bullshit.
I would mention to them that you are only contracted for a very one amount of hours and if they wish you to come they must pay.

it’s literally only a cleaning job I do

The way my DP sees it is its a 12 hour a week cleaning job any meeting is not worth him missing out on his hobby I think

Why do neither you nor your husband respect your job?

You have a twelve hour per week job that presumably you’re not doing for a laugh, you’re doing it for the income, cleaning is hard honest work. Why do you and your DH see it with such little respect? Is that how it goes in your family, his job is crucial (his HOBBY is come to think of it, that doesn’t even pay) but your paid work is lowest on the totem pole?

It’s unfair of work to expect this, but not worth jeopardising your job for. I’d go in for the meeting and then speak to a manager and explain as you’re not on Facebook (and were never informed it was a condition of employment) please can they ensure in future when they post important info on there that they send you it in a message or email too, so you don’t miss out and are able to organise attending the meeting with enough notice.

Yes to PPs cleverly highlighting that even if what they’re asking is illegal, they could just sack you anyway, and your only recourse might be something like a tribunal which you may not be able to afford and might not consider worthwhile.

Employment law is a wonderful necessary thing but its existence doesn’t actually stop companies from breaking the law.

How badly do you need this job, are you in a union?

The OP refers to the employer as a well-known pub company, so there are ways of embarrassing them were there to be disciplinary action, or even just simply encouraging regulars to drink/eat elsewhere.

I think agreeing to a phone conversation would be reasonable as a one-off, but anything else is unreasonable.

Guessing you work in spoons? Also guessing you won't get paid for the meeting. So don't go. You won't be the only one.

My guess was Green King

2 things: your DP is an arse; your manager is a bigger arse.
Who even has meetings at 9.30 pm?
I would go to work as usual in the morning, then just not go home so DP has to look after his own children! Tell him by text that you've got a really important hobby that takes priority😂😂 see how he feels!

SharronNeedles