Work not sticking to agreement

[QuoteInaMoat]

Name changed for this incase anyone from work recognises this. This may be longer than expected as I want to be clear about the situation and not miss anything out, so I apologise.

Context- I'm currently pregnant and in my second trimester. I work part time in retail, in one specific department. I recently had a pregnancy risk assessment completed to update the stage I'm at in my pregnancy and the work commitments my role entails to make sure its safe. I work on a rotaed basis but am generally put on a late shift which means I generally am left with the tasks of department delivery every other day, deep cleaning and spending around 30-45 minutes in a freezer. Due to the issues affecting arriva at the moment too it's also taking me almost 2 hours to get home after my shift. This generally hasn't been a huge issue but as my pregnancy is progressing its becoming abit risky.

In the risk assessment meeting reasonable adjustments specified were as follows...

• To be moved to middle or early shifts only.
• To not be able to deep clean due to the chemicals I'm in contact with to do this.
• To not do any heavy lifting.
• To not be in the freezer for longer than a couple of minutes maximum.
• To take regular breaks due to being on my feet for 7 hours straight.
• To have my hours spread over more days to reduce impact of 7 to 8 straight hours on my feet.

The issue is, since this meeting I'm still being rotaed in late shift (aswell as every weekend) all for 7 to 8 hours and the shifts are all solo so I'm having no choice but to do the freezer run, the heavy delivery load, the full clean down etc, as well as lists being left for jobs that covers my whole entire 7-8 hour shift so the regular breaks to sit down or even eat in that timeframe is becoming impossible.

AIU to bring this breech of agreement up on my next shift? I don't want to be difficult as I'm currently in the period that qualifies for the Mat pay/benefits calculations so I don't want to put that at risk, but those measures were specifically put in place by the manager for safety but yet they are continuing to make it impossible for those adjustments to be met.

You absolutely have to raise it. It's for you and the baby to keep you safe not for a laugh. They need to take it seriously or they could find themselves on the end of a nasty court case. If your manager doesn't listen then go to HR

How has that happened, is it a breakdown in communication? Your manager's recommendations haven't been passed on to whoever sorts out the rota? Can you speak to whoever does the rota directly?

The manager who did my assessment is in charge of checking and signing the rotas off to be assigned. The department managers only need to provide each persons availabilities. Both my direct manager and the store (rota) manager were present in meeting, one made the adjustment suggestions whilst the other wrote it all up into the contract, which was signed and shared with all other leads/managers in the store before being added to my file. I don't see how their can be a communication issue.

I expect the risk assessment outcome wasn't communicated to your manager. You'll have to bring it up.

Cross - post. If it wasn't miscommunication, I would still say you've got to raise it with your manager.

If you don't raise it they'll assume you're ok with it.

Ok. Well in the first instance I would act as though it was a genuine mistake, as people do genuinely make mistakes sometimes. I would have the mindset of - this is obviously a mistake which they will feel bad about and immediately rectify once it's pointed out to them - so you are explaining, in a matter of fact and assertive way, that they made an error and your assumption is that they will fix it straight away.

I guess I'm just looking for reassurance that I'm not being difficult or something before I raise this with them. I guess I just don't want to end up at risk of being sacked/for it to affect my mat pay qualification period or something.

I didn't mind doing the shifts that I'd already been rotaed in for but it's just upon checking the new published rota that covers up until 3rd week in May that I'm now questioning why the adjustments stated are all clearly being ignored, it's not just one or two of them.

You're not being difficult. You have an agreed risk assessment which hasn't been applied to the new rota. Raise it tomorrow, when it can be easily amended. It'll get more difficult to change as time goes on, so the sooner the better.

This is great advice.

This. Time is of the essence. Just a quick, ‘It looks like the results from my maternity risk assessment were accidentally omitted from the rota covering the next month. Could you please have another look at it and make the amendments? Thank you.’

You’re not being difficult and you may need to prepare for having longer conversations about your working conditions as some of what you’ve said is quite nuanced. For example

as well as lists being left for jobs that covers my whole entire 7-8 hour shift so the regular breaks to sit down or even eat in that timeframe is becoming impossible

you will need to have conversations with your manager to make sure you’re on the same page in regards to their expectations of you if you’re facing a situation like this. Obviously your health and safety comes first so you want your managers reassurance about what happens when you can’t fulfill those tasks due to you abiding by the conditions in your risk assessment.