To think I have effectively been dismissed?

[Autumnwindinthewillows]

I worked at an office less than 5 mins walk from a major transport hub. The firm then moved to an office with no easily accessible public transport but the arrangement at the time (or so i thought) was that staff with cars would pick me up from the old office. With staff changes this is no longer happening and I cannot get to work without an hour long journey on public transport plus a 1.5 mile walk which is not feasible.

The bosses have basically reneged on the deal and said it is my problem so it would seem i am out of a job. Can I claim constructive dismissal?

Surely you need to chat to your boss before you just decide to reduce your hours or work in a fashion that makes you ill? Why would you not see if a compromise can be reached first?

It's the overall distance of the relocation that matters not your personal journey time. My company relocated 10 miles away and we were told we could do nothing about it.

Does your disability render you unable to drive OP? Can you think about learning? That would give you a lot more options when it comes to looking for new jobs also.

I have a disability.

I dont drive

My commute is 2 buses and it takes 1.5 hours.

I don't understand. If it used to be a 10 minute commute to your old office then can't you just go to the old office however you used to get there. Is it that you can't walk the 1.5 miles because of your disability?

"1h30 commute in total is not abnormal,"

I've heard that it's common in the area around London, but I don't think it is in the rest of the UK. I wouldn't want a commute longer than 45 minutes.
I think it's unfair here as well because it wasn't this long when she started.
When my old employer moved, they paid the train fare of those people who'd started working there based on the old location.

"Think a relocation of 1.5miles would not be deemed so far as to be unreasonable. Your basic commute has not changed"

It's increased by 50% from an hour to an hour and a half.

" if it causes you an issue now it must have done previously. "

She didn't have the extra walk previously.

How is the taxi fare so cheap? You seem to be saying that a 1.5hr public transport journey plus a 1'.5 mile walk twice a day can be replaced by £10 of taxi fair, so £5 each way. How does that work?

I'm not understanding the geography of the move, the timings and distances don't seem to work out

And from the poor colleagues' perspective- aibu not to want to give lifts to someone I work with every day?

I don't pay for public transport to and from work as I get the concessionery transport scheme pass. So £200 per month taxi is a huge chunk extra that I just can't afford
Are your colleagues with cars all earning a lot more than you?
You currently have free public transport. While you look for another job, pay the £10 per day taxi cost in order to get yourself to and from full time work on time. It's a no-brainer.

Lots of people have much longer commutes. I am a bit confused as to why you thought it was fair that colleagues should be your taxi service for free - no way would I agree to take someone in my car every day.

You need to look for a new job or you need to lean in to this one. Do not be late. Just get up earlier. Use the additional time to listen to podcasts or watch stuff on your phone or to read.

I'm not expecting a lift from home - only from the old office which is 1.5 miles away

I don't understand. If the old office is only 1.5 miles away, how has your ten min commute, inc a five min walk, turned into 90 mins public transport and a 1.5 mile walk?

I've read the OPs posts differently. I don't think the new office is 1.5 miles way from the old... it's that the old office was 1.5 miles away from OPs home and near a transport hub so a 10 min commute

The new office is now 1.5 hours via public transport and includes a 1.5 mile walk. So a significant move from old office

However this doesn't change the fact the company are well within their rights to do this and actually didn't even have an obligation to provide the lifts via other employees for the time they did

Others have given sound advice and unfortunately it's a case of accepting it or looking elsewhere...

This is off the point, but do you have access to a disability taxi concession scheme?

I live in NSW, Australia, and this particular scheme is specific to this state. I get taxi fares for 50% of the full fare. It is actually organised by the taxi companies themselves, but I am not sure who actually pays for it. I seldom get taxis as I generally drive (although it came in handy when I was waiting for a new car) but initially it was a taxi driver who recommended that I apply. There is a reasonably detailed form which needs to be completed by your doctor.

I know this specific scheme obviously doesn't apply to you, but I had no idea of its existence until I was told about it. For all you know there may be a similar thing available where you live.

The story makes no sense whatsoever. No mention of disability in first post. It has gone from a ten minute walking commute to one hour on a bus plus 1.5 mile walk, which apparently would only cost £10 in a taxi? I would have thought a journey like that would be about £50 in a taxi!

OP you come across really badly. You cannot possibly think an employer has any right to commit colleagues to provide you with free lifts. By sound of it you have been a CF expecting free lifts and everybody has had enough of your self entitled crap. I wouldn't give you a lift either, even if you did manage to work out that you need to pay people for lifts!

As harsh as this sounds, it is not your coworkers' responsibility to act as a personal taxi to you, I genuinely feel you are taking them for granted, and perhaps they feel you are taking them for granted so jumped at the chance for a job location change. Obviously your issues are serious and important, but I feel like you are forgetting that coworkers also have lives. Families. Schedules. Relatives. Personal issues. etc etc. They have their own lives and family, they have their own battles. I feel that you forget that, and are only thinking of yourself. These coworkers didn't sign up to be your personal taxi. They have their own lives and goals. Sorry but I think you've had it pretty easy with them for quite awhile, you have no right I don't believe, to feel disappointed with them. They've kept you at work for all this time, they've done their part. Most people would feel grateful and like they were well and truly in their debt. You seem to feel so entitled that you believe you should have your own chauffeur for the entire term of your time in the work force. That is not reality nor reasonable. If you need to rely on coworkers to drive you around, then you shouldn't be working there. It just is not fair to others.

I think you should be thanking colleagues for being at your beck and call, as no doubt, given how self-absorbed and entitled you come across, they would feel like you took them for granted. If your disability is that bad, you shouldn't be working. Or at least understand that workplaces often move locations (many companies relocate regularly, and that is a known and accepted fact of worklife) and you may need to either change jobs or stop working. I think you're naive if you expected your workplace to stay at the one location for the rest of your life in the workforce. I don't think any company stays at the same location for ever. So since you can't drive and thus must put someone else out to benefit you, it would be nice that you actually buy them someone nice to be grateful and show gratitude to them for all they've done to you. Your post is disappointing and you seem to have no clue of how self-absorbed and entitled and ungrateful you come across.

Alfie190 Very true, one of my first thoughts on reading OPs posts was what a CFer she was and how she'd probably eventually see herself mentioned on the CF threads, but I forget to mention it in my post.

I have moved work location a few times. Your employer would have provided all the terms in writing and moved over a certain distance normally attract some monetary compensation. However, it seems that your office has not located far enough away to attract any relocation money. Your colleagues offering to give you a lift is an act of kindness, not a must do ! And is not part of your official working terms and conditions. I would apply for access to work, or find out if the taxi company will offer you a cheaper rate. It is not up to anyone to get you to work, it is your own responsibility ! It seems that you may be someone who does not like change ?

"I probably do come across as entitled because that is what I thought they had promised"

Part of being an adult is realising that you are responsible for yourself; for getting yourself to work and from work. No organisation in the world can 'promise' you a personal driver for the entire term of your time in the workforce (unless you are the PM or someone like that).

Did it never cross your mind that your driver/s may have a sick day? Then how would you get to work? What about long service leave? Holidays? How would you get to and from work if your driver/s were on holidays or something? Or did it just never cross your mind that that might happen from time to time?

Even a naive high school student knows that a boss can never promise you your own personal lift from colleagues. It is just.....common sense. A) Boss can not guarantee a colleague will agree to drive you B) Colleagues get sick/holidays/long service leave, change jobs or retire. Then who would drive you? I mean, seriously, this is just base level IQ common sense. It's called adulting, realising that no one owes you a drive/living, you are responsible for yourself. You cannot rely on a colleague for the entire term of your time in the workforce. This, most teens and adults would understand and take as read. People die. People leave workforce and go into retirement. People get sick. People take holidays/leave. I felt you were self-absorbed and ungrateful but I now feel it is more than that. A lot more. Because it seems you are very clueless and simply don't seem to understand how the adult working world operates. You're an adult now. No one is going to promise you a lift to work for as long as you are in the workforce (which could be decades). No one is even remotely capable of promising you that. It is simply not possible. You're an adult yet don't seem to understand how the adult world functions. The kicker is you feel they've let you down, when in truth, you have taken them for granted for so long. You've actually let them down, and possibly worn them down with your child-like and unreasonable expectations.

I think it's depressing how many people see a 90 minute commute as normal. No wonder we are such a miserable nation.

"And from the poor colleagues' perspective- aibu not to want to give lifts to someone I work with every day?"
Yes. To be frank the OP's attitude is precisely why I would never offer to give a colleague a lift for an undermined/permanent period of time. There is a chance the colleague would need/expect me to drive her to and from every day for the rest of the time I worked there, and that is simply not reasonable for anyone to expect of anyone. Besides being an introvert and needing my period of peace and time to myself during that time, it would be too much of a psychological burden on me - oh, I'm going on holidays, colleague can't take holidays at the same time. Who will drive her to work while I am not there? It is a big long term responsibility for anyone to take on. And there is a strong possibility, as OP has shown, that the coworker will simply expect it forever, and will take me and it for granted. Then you feel like shit if you can't take them once, or try to stop the lifts. Better to just not start in the first place, unfortunately those like the OP ruin it for others who genuinely appreciate the gesture and don't expect it on a permanent basis.

You should start looking for a new job, nearer to where you live. Or move house nearer to your new office. The travel to your work place, is not the concern of your employer

Hi OP,

I think the issue here is that the company didn't properly consider your needs when they relocated or the impact of what they put in place for you. Clearly not thought out or sustainable, 5 minutes on the back of a fag packet it sounds like. There seemed to be some employees happy to give you a lift at the beginning but, as you can see from some of the replies here, with staff turnover the sustainability of such goodwill is limited and has now ended.

You can't simply not go in, so pay for a taxi and get a meeting with your boss and say that the refusal of lifts now makes it financially unviable for you to work there so you need to come to a compromise I.e. A few days working at home per week.

It sounds as if your time there is at an end though so I'd look elsewhere even while having these discussions.

Also this is a good lesson for next time, get any agreements in writing.

Talk to ACAS before you give up, some of the advice on this thread is factually incorrect - sorry I'm short of time this morning not RTFT, but whether you would have qualified for redundancy when they relocated depends on your personal circumstances not an objective measure. Perhaps your lift could be framed as a trial of the new arrangement which has failed. :flowers: