Manager bullying after I raised concerns

[Pineappletiger]

Good morning everyone,

I need advice please:

job role in leisure centre, 16hr contract. The other days I work self employed as a PT.

My manager informed me off shift that my Pt floor rent has to be on a specific day, she suggested a day to accounts which doesn’t suit me at all as I have major outgoings and need to balance my books. I am a sole trader and my business is very new.

She then chases the payment as I could only pay 2/3rds and I questioned why I am being chased but another PT isn’t paying his full payment and a former colleague of my boss is down as a staff member and Pts for free even though he isn’t staff.

I’ve raised this and now she is speaking ill of me behind my back. I have complained to her about an operational issue (pool left unguarded with kids in as a colleague refused to lifeguard) and she has now put a grievance in about me. Something she has exaggerated.

I feel she’s bullying me but I don’t know what to do. I have emailed HR but not sure what to expect. Grievance meeting is on Friday. It’s a month old allegation of doing my nails on shift (yes, really). It was at break time and isn’t forbidden but it’s also a month old and only been brought up now in a tit for tat manner. Colleague who got asked by manager said I did it in my break time - nothing transpired - until now.

I‘m sorry this all ready really clumsily and sounds petty - it probably is but the operational risk of an unguarded pool isn’t. Said colleague didn’t want to do his duties and as I am not a manager I couldn’t make him.

where do I stand?

it’s all a bit middled op

My manager informed me off shift that my Pt floor rent has to be on a specific day

totally reasonable and presumably applies a policy that will be applied to all self employed PT

I'd write all this down on a timeline.

I'd check your contract for legal breaks, and the other contract for fee payments and dates that you agreed to.

I'd also get the process for reporting staff leaving a pool unguarded and get the evidence that you followed that process ready for the meeting.

Agree that it sounds confusing but I think you're conflating different things.

The floor rent thing is reasonable and won't probably have been your manager's decision. The fact it isn't convenient to you isn't the leisure centre's problem.

It's also perfectly reasonable for you to be asked to pay in full for however much you are supposed to be paying.

That you know that somebody else isn't, is neither here nor there. It's none of your business what arrangement another person may have reached with the centre. That said, if none of you are paying what you're supposed to be paying, then it's understandable that management are chasing you. Have you approached the leisure centre in a professional way to sort out paying them?

You brought up a safety issue. Fine.

She has brought a grievance against you for doing something you're allowed to do. Really?

It doesn't sound like you're being bullied at all. You've heard she's talking about you. You obviously do the same about her.

i suspect you’re not going to be back op

but would i be right in thinking that the colleague you reported (the lifeguard)

is the colleague that reported you for doing your nails??

She only posted the thread half an hour ago! Why do you think she's not going to be back?

let’s see….

Not in a corridor with 10 days notice and nonprofit consultation.

Thank you, I washing the school run.

Yes, that’s the one who reported I think but cannot be sure. It was the manager that asked another colleague if I had done my nails on shift and she said yes but confirmed it was on my break.

So sorry for the muddled post. I wrote it in haste to get on the school run.

The issue regarding the other PT payments is actually my business. There is a financial structure tied to our hours worked. Why are others exempt and I am not? You would question if I charged you £10 and someone else £2 for the same thing.

Someone else getting favourable treatment and not paying at all while I am being questioned is patently unfair. I have the right to point out that my manager is abusing her position to dole out favours.

No issue prior to this at all. Since I have raised the Pt payments and the lifeguarding issue all of a sudden I am facing an investigatory meeting. I don’t think I am in the wrong to question the timeline of this.

I just don’t know where I stan.

Some people seem exempt which is what I questioned. My manager has refused to answer and I don’t know who to go to with this.

Why are others exempt and I am not?

not self employed?

The tiers are

40hrs employed you pay £100
30 hours + employed £150
up to 19 hrs employed you pay £200
zero hours £300
freelance £400

So why don’t the others pay what’s mandated?

what’s odd is that you don’t seem to have been paying this until now

Like most everyone else here I am confused by your posts.

I do agree with a poster upthread that you are conflating different issues. There is a pricing structure for your work, and you are required to pay it unless otherwise negotiated. What anyone else pays is irrelevant to your situation and none of your business. You have no right to that information or why others pay what they do.

As for the grievance - she has a right to do that, as do you. You are complaining, well so is she. Based on your comments, you all sound very unprofessional; and frankly, break or not, I don't think doing your nails in work is really a good idea.

You were clearly correct to report a safety issue, but that again really isn't clearly linked to anything else here.

In terms of where you stand, I don't think any of us could say, even if the whole story was clearer. It may or may not be upheld. But I do think that if this is par for the course you need to start thinking about another job / renting your PT space elsewhere, because I very much doubt that this will work out happily in the longer term.

I have but this was not mandated on one specific date. I always paid but a date of my choosing.

@Neriah Thank you, I appreciate your input.
This is the crux of my complaint though: „What anyone else pays is irrelevant to your situation and none of your business. You have no right to that information or why others pay what they do.“

Why do I not have the right to question if the tiers don’t apply to others?

Your floor rent is a commercial arrangement between two businesses. The leisure centre can charge what it likes and it perfectly entitled to charge different contractors different prices.

The monthly payment date should be stipulated in your contract. Or it may in a T&Cs document. What does it say? If the manager is asking to be paid on the date in the contract then you have to do so. How you manage your cashflow is not her problem.

The grievance is an entirely seperate issue. My advice on that would be to prepare in advance of the meeting. Write down a timeline of exactly what was said and by whom. Do not include hearsay or gossip. Stick to facts and present them as such.

Thank you @Aaron95 The tier system is in place to charge each PT according to what HQ determined. We are all graded by hours worked. It would be like an NHS band 7 paid like an NHS band 4 - or vice versa. Surely my boss can’t just make up amounts as she goes along.

Legally she can. Wheher she has the authority from her employer to do that is another matter. If you think this is happening you need to raise a complaint with the organisation.

That’s the crux @Aaron95
thank you!

You won't know where you stand till the hearing. But you need to go into the hearing with clearer thoughts than you've expressed in your posts, so spend some time today separating out the issues and getting them on paper. Take the paper with you and use it during the meeting.
Your issues might be:-
Unequal treatment of the PTs (don't make it personal, don't turn it into Mary only pays £5 cos she's besties with Susie)
Sudden change of floor rent payment arrangements with no notice (this might be a non starter, just pay the outstanding asap, ok you're going to have a skint month, that's life)
The background to your complaint about the life guarding incident
The background to your nails incident.

Then think of a good form of words to express each of the above and write it down. Short, sweet, to the point, let them decide if they need to examine anyone else's behaviour, just explain and justify your own behaviour.

@trulyunruly01 Thank you. I am so sorry for my jumbled posts.

I know I need to collate all the necessary information and create a precise timeline.

Thank you for bearing with me and helping me make sense of the process.

I think that this is really good advice.