AIBU - Inspired by Breakfast Brenda

[decisionsindecisions]

I work in an office where one employee is supposed to work on three days of the week for set hours (10am-2am). She is married to another member of staff and he used to be one of the directors. He is no longer a director, as he has been bought out, but he is now an employee, the same as his wife.

She only comes in to work if she has "something to do". So last week she only came in on one of her working days.

This is pissing off everyone else that works at my firm. Complaints have been made to the remaining directors but she is still only coming in on one day a week and sometimes she does not turn up at all. She doesn't phone in to say she's not coming in. She is salaried and has worked at the firm for over 30 years.

One of my colleagues has asked whether it's ok to just not turn up for work but was fobbed off.

Surely this can't be ok? Can it?....

Do you have a manager? Hr?

You can complain to them.....but o don’t see that there’s much you can do about her employment conditions really.

Is she retiring soon with them thinking she’ll be gone soon anyway ?
Seems odd they are tolerating it otherwise

Could it have been part of the deal of her DH’s buy out that she keeps her job for as long as she wants it, but only has nominal responsibility, and still gets full pay?

In any case it’s unprofessional and annoying. But it’s not unusual for small businesses to have these kinds of ‘untouchable’ staff.

Complaints have been submitted to the directors but unfortunately they are both rubbish at sorting anything out in relation to HR issues. There is no HR department. The problem is that the other staff (there are about 15 of us, so it's a small firm) feel that she is being paid for not turning up for work. So this is causing resentment and creating an atmosphere.

I have no idea if she is retiring soon.

Tricky one. If they have given her a position and a salary that means she only needs to attend to get her tasks done, that doesn’t seem very fair on everyone else, but I think it is their call.

Is she the same level as you?

She is the same level as me, and in the same department as me. I haven't said anything about it to the directors, as I know for a fact that it will just be glossed over. I have worked here for 15 years so I am aware of the culture and that nothing will get done. The problem is that other staff members are talking about just not turning up for work, to see if they get a disciplinary.

Her contracted hours are three days a week 10am-2pm and no, it has not been agreed that she will do reduced hours.

It seems pretty blatantly unfair to me.

I would start not turning up and encouraging others to do the same. Then see what happens.

Are you sure she isn't working from home on the days she's not in the office?

Is she definitely being paid for the days she doesn’t bother coming in?

Honestly, is this a battle you want to get pulled into? For historical reasons of nepotism she is treated differently. This won't change.

But do you like the job, are your conditions otherwise fair and reasonable? Perhaps you may need some flexibility in the future which might be easier in a small business like this if you have proved yourself an asset (and not been a pain in the butt over an issue you don't much care about). Proceed with self interest.

Is her non attendance directly impacting you? ie are you picking up the slack? Does this have a knock on effect for your work load? If not, then how other staff are managed really is none of your business and you are best keeping out of it.

Why doesn't she have anything to do? I would just be making sure she has at least 12 hours worth of tasks on her plate every week, since no one seems willing to do anything else.

She's a solicitor. She is supposed to see clients three days a week, in her contracted hours. This does impact on the rest of the department because if clients phone to book an appointment then they have to be booked in with other fee earners (ie me or the director/partner in charge of the department). If she doesn't have any client appointments then she doesn't come in. It was never an issue before because she was married to a director/partner. Now they are both employees so now, as far as the other staff are concerned, she should be working to the same "rules" and disciplinary procedures as everyone else.

"If she doesn't have any client appointments then she doesn't come in."
So start booking phone-in clients into appointments with her on her days, so she comes in for them.

What would she be doing if she did come in on a non-appointment day? Because if its "sit at her desk kicking her heels" then really complaints sound like sour grapes.
Either shes doing her job or she isn't, where she is when she's doing it is between her and her manager.