I’m afraid this will be rather a long post, but I’ve had rather a lot of problems with my old work and I’m seeking advice.
Bit of background – I have a DP who has a full time, good earning job but not good enough to solely support us all, and to be honest, I wanted to return to work for myself. I worked in the theatre industry where hours were sporadic and changed on a month to month basis. I originally worked 39 hours between 9am on a Monday – 8:15pm on a Saturday and these were full days (8 hour/7 hour shifts).
I wanted to return on fewer hours to ease with the cost of childcare. Just before I was due to return after maternity leave, I had a meeting with my manager where I asked to return at 30 hours a week (so, 4 days instead of 5), and she explained that there was “no need for 3 full timers in that job anyway”. I received a letter a week later saying “no, as we have no one who can cover the additional 9 hours”. My argument here was that the theatre, on average, have 10 casual staff who are trained up to do my job on an as and when basis who had been covering the entire 39 hours during my nine months of maternity leave. I decided to officially apply for Flexible Working via the gov site. On that form, I requested to work 30 or (ideally) 24 hours a week. My employers didn’t respond with the acknowledgement slip but instead offered to have a chat with me. In this chat, they informed me that the reason they don’t want to rely on casual staff for those 9-15 hours is because customers prefer a regular presence instead of different people each week (again, that’s exactly what was happening during my mat leave). So, I suggested that they could hire someone to cover those hours permanently on a 9 or 15 hour contract. That idea was immediately disregarded as “no one would want a 9-15 hour contract”. I then suggested making the role a job share, where 2 people work 2.5 days a week each. This was also disregarded as “if the other person on the job share left, you would be forced to leave too.” I really wanted to return to this job as it was in the industry that I always want to work in, and so I tried really hard to come up with ideas; all of which got knocked back.
They then suggested making the full time role into 2 part time roles of 19.5 hours each. I initially accepted as I assumed that it would be on 2.5 days each. Then I was informed that the 19.5 hours would be spread over 4 or 5 days – always sporadic and 2 or 3 of those shifts being only 2 hours each. This was inconvenient for me as I would still have to find 4 or 5 days childcare and my place of work was a 40 mile round trip (obviously, that’s not work’s fault but I felt as my original role wasn’t for 2 hour shifts, it seemed a waste for me to travel all that way) and so I had to decline.
As there seemed to be no alternative, I grudgingly offered to return full time but only if I could work every late shift, and every Saturday shift. This wasn’t ideal as it meant I wouldn’t see DS for 5 days but at least I’d be earning the money for his childcare. Obviously, in this industry, there wasn’t always call for evening work and so, some weeks, I’d have to work day shifts. My manager responded with “oh, I didn’t realise you wanted to work every evening and every Saturday.” I DIDN’T! But anyway, 2 rotas were mocked up for me where I would have every Tuesday and Sunday off regardless, but on a week where there was no show, I’d work 5 days (say 10-6) and on a week where there was a show, I’d work Monday (10-6) and Weds-Sat (12-8).
I accepted, but I wasn’t happy. I had 2 weeks annual leave over Christmas and during that time, I applied for a part time job (2.5 days) around the corner from where I live, I got the job and handed my notice in to my manager’s remarks of “I thought this would happen.”
During the 2 weeks I actually returned to work, I heard staff members whispering about me and no one took the time to really talk to me. Once I left, I received no well-wishes, cards, or anything. Not a big deal, but it just added to making me feel crap.
I received a letter saying my final pay would be 25th Jan, with all owed holiday included. On 21st Jan, I received a letter explaining that as I hadn’t returned to work for a minimum of 13 weeks, I needed to pay my OMP back and therefore, wouldn’t receive my final wage as they would take it. I emailed and asked them if we could come up with a repayment plan as the short notice would leave me in hardship, they replied with a “no” as it had already been submitted.
I’m really sorry on the length of this post, but is there anything I can do in this situation? I felt victimised and pressured to leave, and as a final slap in the face, they’ve taken the money I was relying on for bills and mortgage. It has been making me miserable and I’ve been in tears nearly every day. I’m not usually a wimp but I bloody loved that job and really wanted to return.