Tesco Stop DH's Management training 3 wks before he completes it due to his CHILDCARE COMMITMENTS!

[Toothache]

That says it all.
DH was due to finish 2 months ago, but they faffed around finding him a placement. The final part of the training is a 4 wks placement at another store. They had cut his to 3 wks due to them delaying getting organised!

He was training as a Section manager with a £7k payrise, but the only job they offered him was a Duty Managers position (1 step higher) 30miles away. he couldn't accpet that due to the fact he has to drop off and pick the kids up 2 days a week at 2 different childcarers..... looooooong and impossible story you may recall regarding my Mum letting us down.

So it was back to the original plan of being signed off the training as a Section Manager. However, they informed him today that his specifications are impossible and they will have to demote him back to Team Leader! Not only that they have already filled his Team Leaders Position so all they have left is Twilight shifts..... they KNOW DH can't do those..... so they are effectively dismissing him!

I am shocked and disgusted. he has phoned the Union who will be back in touch with him tomorrow. They have basically said that no one in Tesco that has regular weekly childcare committments (only 2 days out of 7 remember) can EVER become a Manager!!!!

Surely the Union will have a field day with this!? Can they do this????

DH has gone back in this evening to decline the offer ( as they knew he would) and request a transfer to a store nearer home... on part time hours as a General Assistant.

How can they wathc him go through 7mths training then do this at the last hurdle? They won't even let him finish his training so he can use the qualification elsewhere!

I really don't know how much more I can deal with our lives right now. Everything is going wrong. We go on holiday on Saturday and DH will be coming home to either NO job (if they won't transfer him) or a part time position and a massive demotion.

Help???

thats awful and they should not be allowed to get away with it. saw an advert on tele recently for employee claim line . havent looked at website but there is a bit on discrimination. reckon a solicitors letter at least is the way to go. hth

Thanks all. He has spoken to the Union who have said he has a very good case. He just has to go through the palaver of raising a grievance, having a formal discussion to resolve it.... only then do the Union step in. So he filled in the grievance form last night to start the ball rolling.

Good luck with it all T.

Tesco have got too much power in the retail sector IMO = arrogant *rseholes.

What an awful situation toothache. What about equal opportunities - they just think they can get away with this as he's a man. Hope you get a solution sorted with them. Wont be shopping there if this is how they treat their staff with family commitments.

Oh Toothache, I'm so sorry to hear of this. Really hope you can sort it out.
If I shopped at Tescos I would boycott them for you

The nerve of them!!!

DH spoke to the Union who told him to approach the Manager for a meeting ASAP and say that he wasn't waiting around for the personnel manager to decide to pay the store a visit. This is his future and they are just palming him off right left and centre!

Anyway he had a meeting with the Store Manager. He requested AGAIN that they put it in writing that he was removed from the Management Training, the date and the reason he was removed and also signed by who evers decision it was. He replied "You sat in with me a (personnel manager), you heard what was said, why do you need it in writing?" WTF????

he said that he was angry at how little importance was put on to the fact he was denied promotion due to his childcare committments. And had they started his training when he was supposed to then these childcare problems wouldn't exist as I would still be on mat Leave!!! The Store Manager said "If anyone removed you from training it was yourself by saying you couldn't be flexible enough to be a Manager"! DH NEVER said that!

He was going for Section Manager, all they offered him was Duty Manager, which is a step up, but a definite no go due to committments and also the store was 30 miles away. He explained to teh SM that he was perfectly able to be a Section manager.

Do you know what..... I can't even keep typing about this I'm so angry.

How can they do this??? DH will speak to the Union tomorrow.

Does anyone know of anyone who wrotes for a national newspaper that would be interested in an article about this???? Please?

er...writes...

i've calmed down a bit now.
DH is having a meeting with the Personnel Manager and Store Manager (the people he has the feckin grievance with!).

Get this: Thye didn't even bother to LOOK for a place for him!! The Store Manager said that in his opinion DH couldn't be felxible enough to be a Manager. So HE decided to take him off Management Training! It isn't even his decision! DH was purely situated in his Store to train!

Obviously he now knows DH has gone to the Union as he asked for specific details in writing (only what he's entitled to afterall!). He changed his tune a bit and said that this meeting would be to see if he could be signed back on the Training scheme!

To do this to him (and imply it was a last resort) then to openly admit that they didn't actually look for ANY positions for him is just so degrading for him.

He will speak to the Union today again and update them.

Strikes me that, if they don't come up with anything appropriate and he feels he has to leave, your DH might have a case for constructive dismissal. I hope you are making detailed notes of every meeting, everything that is said and done, etc.

Same thing happened to my DH when he worked in Morrison's. He had to leave b/c he needed to stay home during the day w/DD. Yet they pay so little, it's impossible to live on w/o having your partner go out to work as well.

If they let people have the same days off each week, they might have greater retention. As it is, people left in droves - women with kids who only wanted to work weekends, students who only could work nights, etc.

Freckle - Yes thats what the Union said. His whole training was grossly mismanaged. It's going to open a can of worms and I don't know if it'll effect him getting other jobs? Like a black mark against his name. "Thats the guy that took Tesco to court".... that sort of thing.

Its awful Expat. But my DH only needed to take an hour off 2 days a week to collect the kids from Nursery. I don't drive you see. I will learn to drive, but that doesn't solve the immediate problem.
As a section manager he would be allowed to do that. Many do. But they decided that it wasn't worth that hassle to look for job to suit. So they demoted him back to GA.

They demoted my husband as well, and he wound up resigning.

He just recently went back to ASDA b/c they give you set days off.

This is really awful toothache - what about your local MP - with all the talk about helping people get on at work whilst having childcare commitments. Would they do this to a woman?? They are mismanaging the training of your dh - is there anyone else he could talk to in the company. Just feel that this needs to got to the absolute top.

Expat - Do they pay well? Hope not being too nosey. Are Asda more felxible? My DH is gong to put CV's out to all the local Supermarkets. Afterall he has actually completed the Tesco management training, they just won't sign on the line to say he has!
I'm thinking that a few rivals might be interested in someone trained by Tesco?

Milward - I have had dealings with my local MP before when the Mat Unit here closed and the nearest one wouldn't give me a 20wk scan. He was brilliant had I got my scan 2 wks after I wrote to him.

I've drafted a letter already, but wanted to see if Tesco would resolve this before firing it off to him. Definitely will now though.

Typos there..... should read "He was brilliant and I got my scan 2 weeks... "

Good idea toothache. Why should big companies feel that they can treat their employees badly. I've read so much in the electroral campaigns about flexible working etc - if small companies can do this then why can't the largest ones? Hope your dh gets a better job with a rival.

This thread is 15 years old!

We're going to close this thread as it keeps getting reactivated by spammers. It was started back in 2005 so we're assuming this issue's been resolved by now!