Just been told I have to repply for my own job - please give me some advice

[sillybut]

Appears the company have decided to make "savings" and that of the 4 jobs that currently exist only 2 will remain. Oh and one of the criteria will be that you have to be able to work evenings and early mornings on a regular basis.

Hmmm so I'm a mum swith a DP who works away 4 days a week up against 3 single women. Can they do this to me? This feels very discriminatory and I feel as if they've already made their mind up that I'm out of a job.

Is there anything I can do. I can't afford to lose my job. Now sitting at my desk trying not to cry my eyes out and

Please help me. Do I have to put up with this treatment?

Why do you need to be able to work evenings and early mornings? It is because of the nature of the business and slimming down the numbers - e.g. a call centre might cover 8am to 8pm, so there is a genuine need for staff to work early and late.

The basic answer is that the company can include these criteria if they genuinely relate to the job. If they don't, it may make any dismissal unfair. They shouldn't be using things which are not necessary.

In terms of discrimination, the problem you might have is that the colleagues are three other women. The law only prohibits discrimination on grounds of sex, not having children...

Sorry you're going through such a rough time.

Agree with Ribena, if there is a genuine business need, they need to reduce headcount and costs and as part of that they need these roles to be flexible as they've described, then they can do it, and it's not discriminatory if you are all women.

Have they explained to you any further why the changes to the roles are necessary? If a company needs to save money then that obviously explains the need to reduce the number of posts but it's not necessarily as clear cut why the need for flexibility. Presumably it's about covering the same amount of time with less people.

If you can see that the new requirements for the role are necessary, it seems your options might be to either take redundancy and look for something else, or alternatively explore your childcare options. I don't know how much information you've got or what your normal working arrangements are, but it could be possible to work early mornings and evenings with a DP who is away some of the time, depending on how much notice you have, how much choice you have about which days they are, whether there is any flexibility with your DP's job, whether you have anyone else who can lend a hand with childcare on the odd occasion.

Obviously it would be a lot harder for you than for your colleagues, which is why it feels so unfair, and it is unfair, but it might not be impossible.

Something else you could think about. If you have DC under 6, you can apply for flexible working, which isn't necessarily about reducing hours, it can also be about arranging your shifts to better suit your family. You could apply for one of the jobs and then once you've got it, put in a flexible working application to at least fix the shifts to make it easier for you.

I'm trying to give you a few things to consider. It seems a bit hopeless now, but I'd say apply for the jobs, you aren't losing anything by doing so, unless they are offering a better redundancy package to those who go voluntarily, which they probably aren't. Apply for the jobs, then explore your options a bit further down the line.