Advice rest days/ unauthorised absence

[allthingsred]

Over the last year my partner had had to shuffle his rest days from where they have been rota'd to a different day. ( say changing from Thursday to a monday)hes done this around 5 times. All the time by texting his line manager asking if possible the day before (more than 24 hours in advance) they have given the OK.
His hr record shows no unauthorised absence's just his normal rest days.
He had to do it again Sunday as I had a bartholins cyst which needed to be lanced. He drove me to hospital as I don't drive then he looked after the kids.
Now his manager has called him in and has given him a letter if concern. Questioning his ability to do his job.
My partner now in fear of losing his job. Can this happen?
Like I said his line manager has always accepted when he has text & asked permission, nothing has been unauthorised he's never been late always does overtime.
Just there has been 2 times children been ill, & 2 times he needed 2 rest days together for family reasons ( the 5 time was this latest one taking me to hospital)
Can he really be in trouble for this esp when he has the text messages from boss ok the change of rest days on his phone

For added context he has worked same role for 14 years never had a disciplinary or work questioned before

Even thought they have changed things around for him doesn't mean it was easy to do.

I would not be worried but it is a reminder that if he wants to change then someone has to possibly cover for him especially if texting the day before. They may also need more than 24 hours notice.

How many times have you requested changes to your work?

We share our childcare so if kids have been sick I will do 1 day then he the other.
It's this letter of concern that is the issue. He has never had a complaint about his work or how he manages workload in 14 years.
He as always worked his contracted hours(or above) so even if he has switched rest days the work needing to be done is.
His line manager is a known bully whom has numerous complaints made against her, & it's known that if she doesn't like you there will be a reason found for you to go.
At the moment redundancy are being made so this as well as being a complete surprise comes at a time people are fighting for their jobs

Switching rest days, especially at short notice, makes things difficult. Is there something written in his contract regarding rest days? Is he allowed to switch them to suit what he needs? I imagine they are looking to encourage him to use pre booked holiday (for the family situations he needed two days in a row off for) where possible to allow them to organise staff cover.

He understands how difficult it is. But his workload is always planned in advance & as it is a swap, what wasn't done on that day is done on the other. ( like I said on his hr record(people hr) there are no unauthorised absences/ lateness / sick days other than this one from Monday. Where he had text to let them know I was going to hospital but as it wasn't phoning an hour before shift( he text the day before) they said it's not company procedure and have put it down as unauthorised.
He feels like he is under attack & as he has always given 100% to the company with never any negative feedback getting a letter of concern is grossly unfair.
As I said he had previously text and that's always been accepted.. He can't see why i in the past it was ok but now it's an issue.

Unfortunately it doesn't matter what has been accepted previously, he needs to follow absence procedure. If his contract/staff handbook says to phone then texting isn't acceptable. I agree that his manager should have made that clear but, equally, he should have known.
I don't know what industry he is in but it is often difficult to catch up work on another day and it may impact on other areas when he switches shifts with little notice. I think he may need to accept the letter of concern and ensure he follows the correct procedure in future.