Any advice?

sadista

Over the last few weeks I have been having problems at work regarding an illness I have which is currently being investigated in hospital. I wont go into further detail about it other than on the days when it gets bad I am physically unable to go to work.

I am working for a large retail business and I am on a contract for 25-30 hours per week. about 9 months ago I transferred to a dept that offers more money because the shifts required are unsociable hours.

Recently I was called into a confidential meeting with my PM concerning my absenteeism and was told that I was being moved to a dept with less hours for less pay. Even though i have provided the right certification and appointment letters from the hospital over the last few months I was told that the reason i am being moved is not because I am sick but because "I am in violation of my contract because some weeks I do not fullfill the amount of hours given to me as per my contract".

My retort was that the only reason I cannot fullfil these hours is because I am sick so in effect they are moving me because i am sick. They kept denying this and repeating themselves and the meeting went on for an hour and a half. My argument was that I didnt have a problem moving depts once my wages were the same but they told me that the dept they were moving me to could not guarantee those hours. I left work after this meeting feeling cheated considering I have worked for them for two years without a problem and as soon as I start having problems due to a medical condition they completely F*%k me over? Is this discrimination?

I checked with my union and they told me that because I am on a flexi contract I can be moved.When I quizzed them about the money side they sounded like they didnt know and since then the union shop steward has been avoiding me. He also has a reputation for taking the managers side regardless...

I am barely getting by at the moment. Im paying rent, bills, car loan, personal loan, college and medical expenses on top of that. What they are proposing to me would leave me short 100e approx every week. I am also trying to save for a mortgage so not having that money is of major concern to me.

Does anyone have any advice on anything that can be done?

Ps I also came back to work two days later to find that my manager who didnt concern himself enough to attend the meeting had been sharing finer details of what was said in the meeting to other people in my department, and had also fabricated lies that I was saying things about other people in the meeting to make myself look better??!! I cant believe he would act so unprofessionally!!

I really dont know what to make of all this. Is it time to go job hunting?

the_syco

sadista wrote: »

was told that I was being moved to a dept with less hours for less pay. Even though i have provided the right certification and appointment letters from the hospital over the last few months I was told that the reason i am being moved is not because I am sick but because "I am in violation of my contract because some weeks I do not fullfill the amount of hours given to me as per my contract".

Not sure what you do, but if you were meant to do X amount of work, so that the dept you were in got Y amount of work done, you been out all the time may have meant that to get Y amount done, the other workers would have to work harder, and thus the situation be be harder on them.

Also, as you're not meeting the stated hours, they move you to a section where you can do less hours.

sadista wrote: »

I really dont know what to make of all this. Is it time to go job hunting?

TBH, until you find out what's wrong with you, moving elsewhere would be a bad idea, as you may be let go within the new jobs probation period if you're not in a number of times.

LegacyUser

From their point of view, are they not making it easier for you in that they are moving you to a dept where you have less hours, therefore more time off to recouperate/not stress yourself out/sort out your medical situation.

Once you've been diagnosed and can get your condition sorted/under control, then you can apply to move back to the longer hours situation?

It sounds like they have given you a lot of support already, if you are talking about repeated illness over a period of months.