Dd17 work won’t let her book some time off for her driving test

[Blueybingomum]

dd17 is currently doing an appearance in a nursery. She’s been there a year and absolutely loves it but the managers can’t be abit funny.

she passed her theory test last week straight away booked her driving test, now these are horrific to get atm and she luckily managed to get one in 11 weeks time.

she went to work yesterday and asked if she could book it off but manager has said it’s unlikely. She asked if she could just take the morning off as it’s at 11am but again, said unlikely. They told her she has to look at the staff rota and rebook her test. They have more staff than needed atm and are constantly sending staff home early.

Aibu to think it’s abit harsh.

Worked in/ran Nurseries for years and they can be strange and crazy workplaces. I don't know what it is particularly about Nurseries but they're unlike any other company/business area I've ever come across.

Denying someone (especially an apprentice who shouldn't be in the ratios unless its a level 3 apprenticeship) time off really doesn't surprise me!

The law says that an employer can decide when you take holiday. Had to look into this, myself. They can also cancel booked holiday - I think they have to give twice as much notice as the length of the holiday. It sucks, but there isn't much she can do about it.
Suggest she has a conversation with them about how she can go about getting time off for a test.

If the rota has already been done, can she find someone to swap with?

Otherwise she needs to go back to the manager and politely explain that booking driving tests is next to impossible at the moment, an available slot is like gold dust, and any available slots are likely to disappear within minutes before she's had time to check the rota. How is she supposed to pass her driving test if she can't even book a test slot because her employer won't give her half a day off with 11 weeks' notice?

She could also point out that if she was ill or needed time off for a funeral they'd have to sort something out at very short notice, so this shouldn't be impossible to resolve.

Basically she needs to stay polite and reasonable but not let it drop until it's easier for them to just agree that she can have the time off than to be arseholes about it.

She could rebook it and they can just refuse that one as well? And the next one.

They will benefit from her having passed the test, so letting her take off half a day should be fine since they seem to have the staff.

Call ACAS?

I would suggest she gets to grips with the t&c’s of her contract and the staff handbook. Ask your DD to check what her leave entitlement is from either as well as the holiday booking policy. Then she needs to check the rota and leave schedule to ensure that others are not already booked off. If clear, she should then submit her leave request. This is how it works in a lot of companies

On a separate note, does this day clash with the October half term and therefore someone has already booked off possibly?

As soon as possible have your daughter go in and have a constructive conversation with her employer about WHEN she can book her test.

And the manager might avail themselves to be phoned while your daughter is making the appointment.
It a meeting can't be organised have your DD ask whether it is necessary for her to bring her parents in to help her negociate a fair booking time.

That’s so bad. At least she now knows how unreasonable they are so knows not to work there long term. Is her apprenticeship directly with the nursery or is it through a training provider? If the latter get her to speak to them. This is so bad. I’d be tempted to get her to look elsewhere to continue her apprenticeship and to hand in her notice a month before her test. Again if through a training provider they can probably find another nursery. I wouldn’t want my daughter working for an apprenticeship wage and being treated like that.

How does she book annual leave?
Does she work directly for the nursery as an apprentice or through a training provider? If it's the training provider I would also go back to them and check absence policies.

The managers at my son’s nursery are like this and it has been to their detriment as a few wonderful staff members have left recently.

I’m guessing given the state of driving tests atm she doesn’t have time to ask in advance before booking a test if one becomes available?

Theyre being very inflexible OP and this is a good indicator of the employee they’re likely to be in the future. Perhaps she should think hard about whether she wants to continue working there.

I wonder what would happen if she booked a week off?

And then you end up with no work! OP’s daughter needs to book a Saturday test.

Because it's as easy as that, is it?

I’ve been through the test booking process. It’s awful.

But she needs to either get an early test before work, a late one after work or a weekend test.

The law says that an employer can decide when you take holiday

Ex HR here, and it's exctly as @Desmodici says above.

People advising to leave the job or pull a sickie are giving bad advice. The swapping website sounds good, as well as trying to book a Sat test date.

And if she can't?

I took my driving test in 2004 and even back then you booked the first test slot you could find and sorted it out with work later. If you have a reasonable employer this is never a problem, especially with almost 3 months' notice.

Do you not think that test slots outside of normal working hours are likely to be even more sought after than most test slots, for obvious reasons? People trying to book a driving test are facing unprecedented obstacles at the moment due to the huge backlog and shortage of examiners. They don't need some jobsworths manager who can't be arsed to tweak the rota with 11 weeks' notice making the task even more difficult than it already is.

Also, is there even such a thing as an "early test before work" if you work in a childcare setting? An 8am test slot might count as before work if you work in an office, but not if you work in a nursery, because you start work early so the children's parents have time to get to work.

Whilst this may be technically true, if you actually behave like this as an employer you can expect to see low morale, poor productivity, high absenteeism and frequent staff turnover, because if you don't give a shit about your employees they won't give a shit about you.

It's not very clever really, is it?

If she's done a year then she should be completing the level 2 first stage of the apprenticeship now anyway and level 3 would not be far behind. I would have her put in her notice so she can complete the apprenticeship with reference. Book the driving test once she has the leaving date, and start interviewing for new jobs at her new level.

@Blueybingomum I suspect someone just likes wearing their little hitler hat!!! that is ridiculous! of course, boss can now expect her to pull a sickie!!

Is it a case of too many people off? I work in a nursery and can only have so many people off at a time but obs everywhere different. Ours will however try and be a bit flexible especially for events like this..

Unfortunately the boss now knows when the test date is and so pulling a sickie on that day will now be too obvious.

But if I didn't manage to get the manager to be reasonable I would book the next available test date, say nothing, and pull a sickie on that day instead.

The thing is, we only know what OP has said in her original post.

One of my friends did her apprenticeship in a nursery and it was really hard to get annual leave, especially in the winter months. Because of bugs going round etc., they liked to be slightly overstuffed to keep ratio.

I’d suspect OP’s DD is seeing people leave at different times to her and saying it’s because they’re quiet, but they could have been there for any number of reasons. The world of work isn’t always fair, and her daughter has to be okay with that.

I'd just tell her to be sick that day, she doesn't need to give notice to be sick, do they make people come in sick too?

All of you saying this girl should pull a sickie would be the first to shout if your child was turned away from nursery because of a lack of staff.

Just because it's hard to arrange annual leave doesn't mean your employees are any less entitled to take it. As the employer it is your job to organise your staff count in a way that allows for both planned annual leave and unplanned absences.