where does she stand??

lawless23456

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lawrence
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hi all

my fiance in a carer in a local nursing home and shes having a spot of bother there and just wanna know where she stands. currently shes on a 36 hour a week contract but she isnt getting this per week, this is only a rough break down of the past 4 weeks, week 1: 15 hours, week 2: 55 hours week 3: 24 hours week 4: 56 hours some of which includes doing two long days on the trot (7am-9pm), i also feel that she is being bullied by the management team, she is 21 and has decided that being a carer is what she enjoys and what she wants to do with her life, despite not being many career prospects, but the management at her nursing home are pushing her to go into nursing which she has told them time and again that she doesnt want to do nursing as she is squimish with blood and particularly enjoys her job as a carer, but despite her saying this she is still being pushed everyday to take up nursing and i feel this amounts to bullying and is causing her a great deal of stress. she is considering at the moment quitting her job in favour of another care home and she wants me to come in with her one day and put her point accross for her as she is not good with words, but they are reluctant to agree to this (perhaps because they know they are in the wrong) what is the best plan of action? i just want to help her get it sorted because i hate seeing her so stressed.

thanks

lawless

p.s. sorry for the long post
 
As far as her hours go what does the contract say and does it say anything about flexibility, averaged hours over a fortnight/month?

As for dealing with the other issue I suggest writing a formal letter to the team leader/manager in line with the grievence procedure as a first step. This will allow her to make her points clearly (and you can help write it) and also helps to make the management aware how serious the issue is. The letter should be clear in expressing how the treatment is making her upset & uncomfortable. This might bring about a meeting to discuss things which you could attend as an advocate.

You can then follow this up the chain should it be necessary, at which point another worker willing to provide a statement would be pretty handy. If the matter still isn't resolved then it will be useful as a clear record should she end up in a claim for constructive dismissal.
 
There seems to be not only legal, but moral issues involved here.
My advise would be to arrange a meeting at your local CAB and take their advise on the situation.
 
Her story is not uncommon for care homes i'm sorry to say. I have a friend who was treated exactly the same by her management team and despite always moaning about it, she always went back for more because she loved the job. The job eventually ruined her life and she is now no longer able to do that kind of job.

The best advice I can offer, based on my friends experience, is to get out now. Find a care home that values its staff as much as its residents. And get her to talk privately 1st hand to existing staff before signing up if she can.
 
With the EU working time directive can't she refuse to work more than 40 hours per week? They are obliged to pay her for 36 hours a week even if she doesn't work them all.

On another note she needs to learn to speak up for herself otherwise she will continue to be dumped on by any employer (unless she gets really, really, really lucky)
 
im trying to teach her to speak up for herself and is working but she has a short temper and while she isnt liking it there she realises that its a job while there are very few jobs around and doesnt want to jeperdise her job by losing it with the bosses, there is no union in her work as it is a small individual nursing home, i spoke to her today and she said she is happy to write a formal letter to the home to see if this solves the problem

lawless
 
WTD is 48 hours a week on average (over 17 weeks).
 
two shifts consecutively of 7-9 are amost certainly very naughty.
your supposed to have 11 hours between shifts.
my d in law works in a nursing home and regularly works such ridiculous hours.
sadly, unless you have the guts to stand up and say something, they will continue to take the pee.
but as someone said, go through their greivance procedure rather than shouting your mouth off.
that way she'll have a job at the end of it.
work sucks.
i regularly work 50+ EVERY week.
dont forget that breaks dont count against the 48 hr wtd either.
 
Any chance she was asked to opt out of WTD when she first started, it's not uncommon to be asked. Certainly worth checking before making an issue of it :thumbs:
 
as far as im aware she wasn't asked to opt out of WTD, i will have to double check this, when i started my job i was asked to opt out of it, we are going to draft a letter to them stating that she wants resonable hours and to stop being hassled into going into nursing.
 
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