Need help with this please

LegacyUser

Hi all,
Staying private for obvious reasons and unfortunately there is no union for beauticians to ask. Working as a beautician for 2.5 yrs since I qualified from college in the one Spa and all was going well. Recently I have started having sever back troubles from an onslaught of massage being given by employer. I am relatively small but would be considered probably the best therapist in our Spa ( I do not mean to sound cocky saying this) and would have the most requests etc. The pain coupled with never getting to socialaise or do anything bar work (as approx 1 Sunday in 5 off in average) made me request to go Part Time. Numerous of my other collegues have gone PT in the past and draw welfare for the other 2 days. I approached my manager and although she agreed to let me go PT she will not give me the letter I need to draw the welfare topup. Without this I would be getting approx €170 a week. She told me afterwards that they would give me busy days and if I wanted to go FT again they would do it immediately. I feel that she is trying to force me to stay full time as there is not many other therapist with requests, especially at weekends and all the money coming in is necessary. They recently put a pay freeze on us too so I cannot get a higher rate and I do not know what to do. If I continue to work FT I am risking my health and if I go PT I will not be able to afford to survive. Is there any other way to get the topup without having to go through them?
All advice really needed and appreciated,
Thanks.

gerrycollins

Firstly you need to get better and hopefully the result is that you can continue full time and avoid all the messing.

Can you take some sick leave to sort your self out with you back etc?

As for going part time and not getting a letter, offically your asking for the part time not your employer so they are under no obligation to provide you with any such letter and if they have done it for other then its very stupid of them and immature.

Part of the letter and form from SW asks if full time is available and they can respond with a yes which is bad news for you and the welfare office.

ps what do you mean go socialise? whats that got to do with your employer?

RangeR

How long have you been with your employer. It's a little unclean from your OP.

How many hours, on average, do you work a week. What hours.

Again, it's a little unclear in your original post, but your employer is legally obliged to allow you "down time" [cannot make you work more than x number of hours a week etc]. I don't have facts and figures in front of me but can dig them up.

LegacyUser

Thanks for replies. They will not let me take sick leave, after 1 day they require a sick note and then another not to return to work. My hours are supposed to be 10am to 7pm with 1hr unpaid lunch. Unfortunately this only applies on weekends really. They expect us to work 15 mins before work unpaid and now do travel work unpaid advertising after hours.
The socialiasing is because I was initially told I would get every second weekend off. This is in reality about 1 in 5 and is onyl time I can meet friends, bf etc.
My hours are at the minute about 18 a week but they will still not let us go PT. The busy weeks thou I could work up to 9 days straight but as it is averaged over 2 weeks they are not technically breaking the law here. Dont know what is the best thing to do.