Unfair treatment at work

Island mike

Hi I work in a hotel with a general manager who is consistently abrasive, condisending and patronising toward me. He seems to keep a special kind of hate for me.
Anyway I recently done a night porter shift at work beginning at 11.30pm and finishing at 7.30am the following morning after the time it takes to get home and have doming to eat its almost 10am when I get finally get to bed.
At around 1pm my supervisor calls me and says that all food and beverage staff have to attend a meeting at 2.30pm (which I assumed I would be excluded from because of the time I finished work) I told her I was too tired from only finishing work a few hours ago and can't be expected to return to work on my day off. Her reply was that disciplinary action would be taken against me if I did not attend (which I did not).

The question I have anyway is where do I stand legally on this issue? Because to my knowledge after a night shift such as the one I described you cannot be asked to return to work for at least 12 hours from when the shift ends?!
And does my boss have the grounds to take disciplinary action against me?

shankespony

Play it by ear, you could always say you slept through your alarm! Watch how you go, do you have HR and maybe discuss with them. yes you could be in the right and you should stand up for yourself but my advice is don't push it too far try to sort it out.

downonthefarm

hr in hotel work? lol

Island mike

shankespony wrote: »

Play it by ear, you could always say you slept through your alarm! Watch how you go, do you have HR and maybe discuss with them. yes you could be in the right and you should stand up for yourself but my advice is don't push it too far try to sort it out.

I get what your saying but I would like to know where I stand if the matter should arise and I'm not sure about hr I think the gm of the hotel is also head of hr so going to him about unfair treatment would defiantly bite me in the ass

Bepolite

Legal advice can not be given in this forum. See the Organisation of Working Time Act generally.

If it proceeds to disciplinary action take proper advice from a solicitor or FLAC.

Island mike

Bepolite wrote: »

Legal advice can not be given in this forum. See the Organisation of Working Time Act generally.

If it proceeds to disciplinary action take proper advice from a solicitor or FLAC.

I wasn't looking for legal advise dude I was kinda wondering where I could go for that preferably free lol and weather it would be better to wait till after my boss takes disciplinary action or before? Would citizens information be the place to go?

dobman88

I am a night porter, 5 nights a week, 10.30pm-7am. We are expected to attend meetings that are compulsory and that are on during the day, it sucks but that life. They do usually put them on in the afternoon so we can make the though.

The meeting you had to attend was on at 2.30pm. What is the problem with that? If you work in F&B then do you normally work days/evenings? Not nights? Would you really want to spend your day off in bed? I hate staying in bed on my days off and normally only go to bed for 3-4 hours on my day off.

Legally, what does your contract say? If you didn't sign one then legally nothing can be done. Your supervisor told you that you had to attend and that failure to do so would result in disciplinary action. Sounds like you knew exactly where you stood and still chose not to show up. You are only making life more difficult for yourself by refusing little things like this.

And @downonthefarm, we have a HR dept in the hotel I work in, don't know why you put "lol" in your post? Not very helpful.

Mikros

Generally speaking you should get 24 hours notice of your working hours unless there are exceptional or unforeseen circumstances (e.g. someone called in sick). A planned meeting wouldn't likely be considered exceptional.

You are also entitled to 11 consecutive hours rest in any period of 24 hours - though this doesn't always apply to shift work where you might be changing shift.

Can't comment on the specifics of your case - asides from the forum rules - a lot depends on the details of your contract and whether you are covered by a registered employment agreement or not.

seamus

If they take disciplinary action against you, ring NERA straight away.

Island mike

dobman88 wrote: »

I am a night porter, 5 nights a week, 10.30pm-7am. We are expected to attend meetings that are compulsory and that are on during the day, it sucks but that life. They do usually put them on in the afternoon so we can make the though.

The meeting you had to attend was on at 2.30pm. What is the problem with that? If you work in F&B then do you normally work days/evenings? Not nights? Would you really want to spend your day off in bed? I hate staying in bed on my days off and normally only go to bed for 3-4 hours on my day off.

Legally, what does your contract say? If you didn't sign one then legally nothing can be done. Your supervisor told you that you had to attend and that failure to do so would result in disciplinary action. Sounds like you knew exactly where you stood and still chose not to show up. You are only making life more difficult for yourself by refusing little things like this.

And @downonthefarm, we have a HR dept in the hotel I work in, don't know why you put "lol" in your post? Not very helpful.

Cheers helpful comment, I normally work breakfast in the restarunt so I had that day off to try turn around my sleep pattern for a split shift starting at 8am the following day I'm not saying that what u have to do is easier but u would be more capable in your case at making meetings in the afternoon because you would be used to the scattered sleep patterns

shankespony

Island Mike I could write you a true article on being right, winning at an EAT, then the Circuit Court and a substantial amount of money and it wasn't worth jack sh@t . The lawyers are a joke, its like i'm a cash machine and never seem to be proactive, the company destroyed my reputation at reference stage, i've had to leave Ireland & i'm still owed 50% of the money I was due but company are "acting it" in terms of paying. Its cost alot in my personal life also

The laws an ass in Ireland so yes you can be 100% right and get right royally screwed, imo Ireland's a joke!

Bepolite

Island mike wrote: »

I wasn't looking for legal advise dude I was kinda wondering where I could go for that preferably free lol and weather it would be better to wait till after my boss takes disciplinary action or before? Would citizens information be the place to go?

I've told you the places to go, I also indicated when to go (despite this bordering on offering you advice in a legal context). People frequently come here saying they are not looking for legal advice, they simply want information on what the law is, or what to do, or what the law is on what they are thinking of doing - this is legal advice.

Bepolite

shankespony wrote: »

Island Mike I could write you a true article on being right, winning at an EAT, then the Circuit Court and a substantial amount of money and it wasn't worth jack sh@t . The lawyers are a joke, its like i'm a cash machine and never seem to be proactive, the company destroyed my reputation at reference stage, i've had to leave Ireland & i'm still owed 50% of the money I was due but company are "acting it" in terms of paying. Its cost alot in my personal life also

The laws an ass in Ireland so yes you can be 100% right and get right royally screwed, imo Ireland's a joke!

So an employer got rid of you because they weren't happy with the job you were doing (rightly or wrongly I'm not passing comment on that. I was rail roaded out of a job I know this can happen for all sorts of reasons.)

You then employ a solicitor that doesn't come up to your expectation and you stick with them? Why? Some sort of twisted logic that just because you got fired you didn't want to fire them? There are plenty of excellent employment solicitors in Ireland delivering an excellent service to their clients.

Island mike

Bepolite wrote: »

I've told you the places to go, I also indicated when to go (despite this bordering on offering you advice in a legal context). People frequently come here saying they are not looking for legal advice, they simply want information on what the law is, or what to do, or what the law is on what they are thinking of doing - this is legal advice.

Alright sorry I didn't realise how strict the guidelines were

Pat Mustard

http://www.employmentrights.ie/en/What_You_Should_Know/Terms_of_Employment/

http://www.employmentrights.ie/en/What_You_Should_Know/Working_Hours_Leave_and_Public_Holidays/

seamus

dobman88 wrote: »

I am a night porter, 5 nights a week, 10.30pm-7am. We are expected to attend meetings that are compulsory and that are on during the day, it sucks but that life. They do usually put them on in the afternoon so we can make the though.

"It sucks but that's life", not really. There are laws to protect employees which prevent employers from making unreasonable demands of them. Demanding an employee return to work 7 hours after finishing a night shift would most definitely count as unreasonable, it is specifically illegal, in contravention of the Working Time act.
The only exceptions to this are for emergencies or shift workers changing their shift.

Legally, what does your contract say? If you didn't sign one then legally nothing can be done.

Completely wrong. Every employer is legally obliged to provide an employee with a contract of employment within 60 (?) days of starting work. If they didn't provide a contract, then the employer has no legal leg to stand on in making demands.
Besides, your contract cannot override your statutory rights, including the right to an 11 hour break period.

You're right though on one point - the employer can still begin disciplinary action against him because that's not really covered by law. That's why the OP should contact NERA straight away if they do take disciplinary action, to find out what he can do. A phone call from NERA to the employer could be enough to straighten the whole thing out.

Bepolite

Island mike wrote: »

Alright sorry I didn't realise how strict the guidelines were

I'm not trying to have a go but for every piece of right info you get you'll get 5 people getting it wrong.

dobman88

seamus wrote: »

"It sucks but that's life", not really. There are laws to protect employees which prevent employers from making unreasonable demands of them. Demanding an employee return to work 7 hours after finishing a night shift would most definitely count as unreasonable, it is specifically illegal, in contravention of the Working Time act.
The only exceptions to this are for emergencies or shift workers changing their shift.

Completely wrong. Every employer is legally obliged to provide an employee with a contract of employment within 60 (?) days of starting work. If they didn't provide a contract, then the employer has no legal leg to stand on in making demands.
Besides, your contract cannot override your statutory rights, including the right to an 11 hour break period.

You're right though on one point - the employer can still begin disciplinary action against him because that's not really covered by law. That's why the OP should contact NERA straight away if they do take disciplinary action, to find out what he can do. A phone call from NERA to the employer could be enough to straighten the whole thing out.

But he said he does shift work? I really don't see the OP's problem. Just go to the course. It might show his GM that he is interested in the job and get him off his back. The OP has stated he was off the day/night of the course so its not like they had to do a shift before/after the course.