Saturday working

[Morgan97]

Hi can anyone give me some advice please,i have a part time job in retail and have been there about 18 months,my hours include working on saturdays but due to losing my childminder i am now unable to cover saturdays and have been told by my mangager that she will "have to let me go" as they need a supervisor inspite the fact that i have offered to work the saturday hours on a week day. Can the company really sack me for this?
Thank you

Well yes if it says in your contract weekend working
I'd start looking for a job in the week only tbh

Thanks for that but the only thing my contract says is about working on a sunday and sundays one of my days off.

Does it say anything about "flexibly to meet the needs of the business" or " may include evenings/weekends"?

No nothing,when i had the interview for the job the manager asked me if i would have a problem with childcare and at the time i didnt have any problem.She recently said to me that if she had known i had a child she wouldnt have given me the job,i was quick to point out that she knew at the interview. I feel a bit miffed as when i found out i didnt have childcare i offered to do the saturday hours on a different day which was met with a stout "no you cant do that" cant really afford to lose my job but unsure of my rights.

She was well out of order and is discriminatory. She's left herself in a difficult position if you have nothing at all in writing about what your hours will be and how flexible you need to be.

Just because your contract isn't specific about your hours doesn't mean you get to change them to suit you unfortunately. Your manager was definitely wrong to say those things about your childcare but ultimately if you've always worked on Saturdays and not previously chosen your own hours, you don't have the right to change them now because of your personal circumstances. She isn't asking you to change and be flexible, she's asking you to keep doing as you were already doing, regular Saturday hours week in week out.

You could put in a flexible working request to change your hours and she would then be forced to consider it properly and follow a process.

Is there a reason you can't find another childminder?

I wouldn't contradict flowery but surely if a contact says "30 hours" and nothing else, then they can't enforce when they are worked as long as the 30 hours are worked??

Hairy - They can otherwise people would just work whatever they wanted as long as they put the hours in, it just wouldnt work for the business.

The contract probably says 30 hours over 7 days, or 30 hours over 5 days to include weekends or similar

If you are in retail then of course you have to work Saturdays! My DH is a retail manager and gets really p*ssed off with women coming to him to say they can't work Saturdays. He doesn't appreciate having to work every weekend but that is the nature of the job. If you can't work the hours the business needs then you aren't any good to them. So yes they can sack you.

I realise that, but op says the contract only says 30 hours and nothing else. At work we are specific : 37 hours worked flexibly, to include evenings
and weekends, to meet the needs of the business.

It sounds to me like ops employer has been very vague, so has shot herself in the foot.

but the first post says her hours include Saturdays

I cant see any ref to her contract only saying 30 hours and nothing else

"Thanks for that but the only thing my contract says is about working on a sunday and sundays one of my days off."

I took it to be that the contract is non specific but that she's been doing Saturdays.

see I take that to mean the contract states something specific about working Sundays ie. others days are 'normal' working days.

If the contract isn't specific about when hours are to be worked, that doesn't automatically mean the employee gets to decide - why would it?

If it doesn't say anything, then whatever method has previously been used to decide hours should continue, and I presume the OPs hours to date have been decided by her employer. Plus they are established and regular over a period anyway - she's always worked Saturdays. This isn't the employer trying to change things and relying on a non-specific contract to do so, it's the employee trying to change things.

Ah! I get it.

Her comments about "wouldn't have employed her if ...." are discriminatory though, yes?

oh yea that bit is pretty of the employer. Dont think it would hold much weight in a tribunal though as she was given the job and OP hasnt had her contract terminated because she has a child. OP simply cant work the required hours anymore so is not able to perform the role.

willing to be corrected though

Thanks for all your replies,ive been through my contract and the only thing i can find about weekend work is being "unable to work sundays" that doesnt affect me as sunday is ones of my days off,there is a piece about flexible working and that the company i work for are "family orientated" so will go down that route and see what happens. As for finding alternative childcare as i need a saturday its like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

The remarks about not employing her if she knew she had a child are potentially discriminatory yes, in that she was indicating that she would probably discriminate in a given set of circumstances. However the OP was not discriminated against at the recruitment stage and isn't being discriminated against now either.

Do try a flexible working request OP - that's the proper way to go about it if you want to change your hours for childcare reasons. You are entitled to ask for those reasons and your employer must properly consider your request and give decent business reasons for refusal so can't say no flat out.

Sorry OP, i was a retail manager for years, if I had employed you to work saturdays and you suddenly couldn't do Saturdays I would get rid of you too.
If you work in retail it is very unusual not to work at least one day of the w/e - it is, after all the busiest time when the staff are needed.