Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Work

Chat with other users about all things related to working life on our Work forum.

My sister feels that she is being forced out of her job by her new manager.

9 replies

DooinMeCleanin · 27/04/2011 14:06

I can't go into details incase her manager reads this. But the basics are....

She was in the job before the new manager started. She already knew the manager and had personal issues with him.

One supervisor has already left because of this manager. Instead of advertising the new supervisor position internally and externally the new manager gave the job to a friend of a friend who has no experience what so ever of the role (not even in a supervisory role, she has literally never worked in this industry before). She is constantly having to ask my sister and her colleauge (who are both more than experienced enough to take the supervisor role) how to do her job. She cannot actually work shifts alone because she is not experienced enough.

My sisters hours have been cut dramatically. The hours are still available. They have been given to another member of staff, who has not been in the company for as long as my sister. The reasons he gave for this is that they are 'over staffed', but the person who now has her shifts has more hours than before, so how can this be?

She has now heard rumours that she has to attend a meeting with all the managers because she has been accused of calling the manager names behind his back. She has not done this.

OP posts:
hairylights · 27/04/2011 14:13
  1. There is no requirement to advertise vacant positions.
  1. What does her contract say about hours?
  1. She should ignore rumours
DooinMeCleanin · 27/04/2011 14:16

Her contract is only for 4 hours but she has been doing at least 20 hours for the last 7 years. He did not give any notice before changing her hours.

OP posts:
DooinMeCleanin · 27/04/2011 14:17

Everyone's contract is for 4-6 hours. So the member of staff who now has more hours is also only contracted for a few hours. He has been in the company for 3 years.

OP posts:
hairylights · 27/04/2011 14:23

Well then they've been doing overtime I guess? Has she had a problem
with being asked to do more? Not sure she has a leg to stand on with regard to the hours as they weren't "hers" contractually to start with, although it does sound like there is no equal system
of allocating overtime.

DooinMeCleanin · 27/04/2011 14:28

No, she has never had a problem with being asked to do more. Under the old managers she was known to be a hard worker and often came in at short notice as she lives very close to her place of work and has no other commitments. Her attitude towards her work has not changed with this new manager.

OP posts:
Bramshott · 27/04/2011 14:29

It sounds like the new manager probably is trying to force her out, and there's probably very little she can do about that. If I were her, I'd keep on going in for the hours I was given, but also start looking for a new job.

KatieMiddleton · 27/04/2011 15:19

This is a tricky one because there is little in the way of redress unless there is some sort of discrimination or severe harrassment.

I would suggest she raises a grievance via the company grievance procedure, which will either be directly to HR or to to her manager's line manger as it is her manager's conduct she has issue with.

If she has been working additional hours and is the only person being denied the opportunity to do overtime that is not fair. If she has been denied the opportunity to apply for a promotion because it was not advertised internally, that arguably, is not fair.

She needs to write dispassionately and factually. If her employer fails to act and the unfair treatment continues she could argue that her position there has become untenable, resign and claim for constructive dismissal but her case from what you've posted is not strong and it could take over a year to go before a tribunal.

Why do you think this manager is behaving like this? Is it a lack of experience? Malicious? Naivety? You mention in your OP that your sister has "personal issues with him". What does this mean? She doesn't like him? Respect him? He has behaved inappropriately towards her or a colleague?

DooinMeCleanin · 27/04/2011 19:44

The personal issues are what I can't really discuss incase of her being identified by some one who knows him or her.

Without going into too much detail he has had some very bad family problems and my sister is very close friends with the person he has fallen out with. This all happened before he took the job.

She doesn't like him because of this but has not let this affect her work or become involved with his family issues at all. He has made it perfectly clear that he does not like her.

OP posts:
StillSquiffy · 28/04/2011 22:36

It sounds awful, but TBH I don't think there is much your sister can do from a legal standpoint as they aren't really breaking any laws. companies that operate 'zero contract' terms can sometimes be very difficult to pin down to legal obligations in terms of hours. There is an argument to say that if your sister had been performing certain regular set hours for a long time (2yrs plus) then these hours effectively become 'contractual' and shouldn't be reduced, but it would be very tough fighting a tribunal case on that alone, and I don;t really see the bones of anything else to fight them with

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread