Is my manager treating me unfairly?

[Mumoftwodarlings]

I returned from maternity from having my first child in 2020 and requested flexible working for 24 hours per week. This was agreed after initially my manager refusing but HR stating there was no reason to refuse my reduced hours. Because I had reduced my hours my manager said I now had to job share and the lady who had covered my maternity leave would be staying on full time. It was agreed we would both do 18.5 on the job and the remaining hours we would work on project work. Only 5.5 per week for me and 50% of her hours on project work.

I got pregnant again in 2022 and had my DC and have returned to work today from having a year on maternity leave. My job share covered my post whilst on maternity leave and the project hours were not covered.

My manager said today that if I'm on leave then my job share has to cover my hours (as she is full time). This means if she’s on leave I can’t take leave. I said are we not job share? And my manager said we are job share but my hours have to be covered whilst I'm not here. I can’t cover my job shares hours as I’m part time, so her hours aren’t covered if she’s on leave the beginning of the week.

I feel a bit upset about this. Am I overreacting?

I don’t understand the issue? It’s not uncommon to not be able to take leave at the same time as a close colleague

It sounds like a very odd arrangement - are you sure you’re actually job sharing or are you part time and she’s full time? I really think you need some clarification from HR if your contract isn’t explicit re leave cover - on the face of it, it sounds like your manager is making up the rules as they go along but there may be something in your contract which allows for this.

This is quite normal. There are two other people at my work and only one of us is allowed leave at the same time. It's generally not a problem. The rule is bent if it is just for 1 day but that's it.

I would have thought you are not sharing 1 job because 1 person wouldn't work her full time hours plus your part time hours. The way I understood job sharing was if the job required 40 hours and you both did 20 or one did 30 the other 10 etc.

You are part time. She is full time. The job share is just a project share. Of course if she’s off you can’t be off.

I think because I can’t take leave whilst she’s on leave but there are no restrictions to when my job share takes leave at the beginning of the week as I’m not there.

I'm MJS and It's normal for job sharers not to be able to take leave at same time

NHS

It’s pretty normal.

It’s an odd arrangement. It was my substantive post and I returned only wanting to do 24 hours. My manager wanted the job covering full time and said I could only cover 18.5 hours on my substantive post and they would
find me project work to do for the over 5.5 hours. Same for my job share. We’re both supposed to cover the job 18.5 hours whilst our remaining contract hours are done on project work.

I think it’s fair to request you don’t take leave at the same time.

So because she can take leave at the start of the week without issue you feel it’s unfair ? That’s ridiculous , very few people only take a Monday and Tuesday as leave. If you work the back end of the week only then you are free to take the full week off too if she’s not on leave which is perfectly normal

You're over thinking op.

Forget the jobshare aspect or part time vs full time.

One of you has to be there at all times. That's totally normal and not at all unfair.

I work closely with two colleagues in a similar role and we have to negotiate our leave between us as one person has to be available at all times, even Bank Holidays.

It's really common to have to plan your time off around others on a team

This

I think you really need to get guidance from HR here. It’s normal practice to turn down leave to ensure cover but because you’re not job share by the sounds of it it’s worth getting advice.

But surely she can't take leave when you are off too?

This is very normal btw. I work part time and can't have time off when my colleague is off (and vice versa) we let each other know when we are booking time off so the other knows not to plan hols on those dates. I would guess it's first come first served so I'd just get your holidays in early.

I guess my reasoning is when I was full time and it was only my post I could take leave when I wanted. There wasn’t anyone else in post to cover me whilst I was off. .

Why is unfair? It sounds like if you're on leave, she can't take leave?

So when did your manager confirm a change to this arrangement for taking leave? Your contract should have something in it about cover if indeed your job sharing.

• contract or job share policy

It’s important to remember that by law an employer can dictate when you take leave - so HR won’t change anything.
It’s a perfectly normal arrangement to not take leave at the same time as colleagues on your team.

But things change and now it needs full cover

When I returned from maternity. There was also no one to cover my job share whilst I was on maternity leave. There has been no change to my contract. My contract doesn’t state job share either. I work for a local authority (Council).

If you look at it from the other point of view that you are never there at the start of the week and he can't say she can never take a Monday off for example. So he can't stop her taking leave. I'm sure if she wanted to take a week off when you already had leave booked for that week he would decline it too. I think he is talking about your non working days. I would try not to read to much in to it.