Grievance

[philnteds]

General Query should i file a grievance against my employer? I had to attend 'mandatory moving and handling training' yet I could not get childcare. I phoned work to tell them that I was unable to get childcare but was told to 'sort it out' and had the phone hung up on me. I never really got over this issue and started to worry that eventually i would have to leave the job as the boss/company do not appear to be family friendly and clearly I will have my child for life!! The boss recently made some comments about my chaotic personal life and making decisions based on my childcare needs/husbands thoughts and I really wonder if i want to complain about this or just suck it up and get the h*ll out a soon as i can. This is a job that i began after maternity leave, a new employer. thanks

What's your grievance? Not a pedantic question, I'm just not sure on what grounds you would complain?

Bosses do not have to be 'family friendly', they simply have to follow UK employment law. If your life is chaotic and it's affecting your ability at work (or your attendance at work) then it's no surprise that they are frustrated about it. And if you are taking responsibility for all the issues you have with childcare falling down, rather than having your husband do his fair share (given that you are both working), then of course they will be very frustrated.

Legally, you must not be discriminated against because you are the primary carer for your child. Equally, you are protected from being bullied (which is measured very subjectively and can be quite difficult to prove). Additionally, you have the right to unpaid emergency time off (limited to the amount if time it takes for you to arrange alternative childcare).

As a working parent you have a responsibility to ensure you have adequate childcare support in place to cover all reasonably foreseeable circumstances and that would include (a) times when your child is ill and (b) times when you are required to perform your duties outside of normal times/places (assuming you were aware of the likelihood of these occurring when you joined)

Mandatory training should be offered on your normal days of work, or you should be given adequate notice if this is not possible - are you saying that they sprung this training on you or were unreasonable in not switching it to a normal workday for you?

If your boss is making such comments with no grounds - eg if you are performing your work adequately and your attendance is fine then you might have grounds for complaining about bullying. But I imagine there was a background to his comments about chaotic lifestyle - what are they? We'd need the details of that to assess if he's bullying you...

Thank you for your answer.
My life is not chaotic and I have excellent attendance. I am not sure if my manager has any right to comment on what goes on in my personal life. As it happened my husband was working away and yes i was the only person available for childcare.
When your child is ill, how are you supposed to get childcare? The whole point is that the nursery won't accept children when they have a communicable illness.
The training itself wasn't exactly sprung on me, but the former manager used to post a choice of training sessions whereas now the training always seems to be at 4pm. Because i am part-time I don't always see the training notices that are pinned on a bulletin board.
anyway not that i am bitter but my first forays into the workplace after having had DS are not particularly positive to say the least! I don't feel bullied but I feel slightly persecuted. This is one of those situations where if i knew then what i knew now.........i.e. before child.....

OP, was the training taking place in your normal working hours or outside of these? If outside, then you can't be expected to attend at short notice (unsure what notice you had from your post). I an unclear how being part time prevents you from looking at the bulletin board where training is posted - is it that all the places on the courses within the working day are taken by the time you get into work? If so your grievance may be that you haven't go equal access to training at a time that suits.

To answer the question you raised, you are expected to have in place a plan to deal with the times when your DCs are ill. If the plan is to take time off yourself then you need to have that expectation agreed with your employer. If not then you need a plan B. Emergency nannies are one option, calling a relative in to stay is another. Many of us have encountered this. It would be nice to have family friendly employers but it's not very common, and your child being poorly should not prevent you from getting to work. obviously the reality is that sometimes even our emergency plans fall through, but whet his happens we should not be surprised when employers grumble, and should expect to perform a dance of contrition when we return.

It seems strange for someone to comment that you should go on this basis and then fire you, though, so I'd be interested to see wht hr say when you see them.