I have just started a new job, 12 hours a week,across 3 evenings.
There is various training I have to attend, all training courses are running through the daytime - 4 full days worth in total. At interview they told me it would be one day, I said with enough notice I could manage one day.
Four days suddenly seems like a lot, but fine. I can sort something out with my childminder.
Then I find out the company don't want to pay me for the time I am at training courses. They want me to take time off in leiu. Which, frankly, is ridiculous.
I work 12 hours a week, term time only. I already get 17 weeks holiday a year. If I took the 4 full days worth (30 hours) I would need to take 2 and a half weeks off. That's just daft, surely. And besides - I am needed. They can't really cope without me and would need to bring someone else in. So what's the point? Why can't they just pay me?
The reason I work evenings is to avoid any of this childcare stress to be honest! I spend the day with my children, DH finishes work, we handover children then he has them for the evening. As it is November he doesn't have enough holiday left the cover 1 day, let alone 4.
My children go to a childminder 1 day a week while I study at home. She has a few spaces on a few days, but matching them up might be tricky. I can't afford 4 days of childcare in one go without being paid for it.
As this amount of time for training, and the the fact it isn't paid but taken in leiu was not mentioned before I took the job, is there anything I can do?