Broken Service Seniority in Exceptional Circumstances

Gredwyar · Post by **Gredwyar** » 04 Jul 2017, 14:00

I was one of the many postal workers who was forced out of a job when RM changed our working hours to times when we had other commitments. In my case i worked 5.15-10.15 with RM and then had an afternoon job. But RM changed my hours to 8.20-14.40 meaning I had to quit both jobs and find another to pay the mortgage! The union could not help as our working times are not in our contracts. I have since returned to royal mail 4 years later and it states in the union agreement that prior seniority can be reinstated in exceptional circumstances to be agreed locally. The trouble is we cannot agree locally whether being forced to leave the job due to working time changes counts as an exceptional circumstance. Does anyone have experience of this situation?

fishtank · Post by **fishtank** » 04 Jul 2017, 14:27

Exceptions are very rare and would be limited to situations where the mitigating circumstances were outwith the control of both parties for example if a member left to care for a terminally ill relative. I think it's unlikely that a change of hours within your terms and conditions would constitute an exceptional circumstance. It would be difficult to limit such an exception since it would be possible for anyone who left and returned to use exactly the same excuse.

barrychuckle · Post by **barrychuckle** » 04 Jul 2017, 15:30

You do however get your previous years service counted towards your annual leave entitlement. So all you dip out on is seniority in a resign.

Bahia Feliz · Post by **Bahia Feliz** » 04 Jul 2017, 15:51

barrychuckle wrote: So all you dip out on is seniority in a resign.

Which is the worst thing about it!

Post by **Brandy** » 04 Jul 2017, 15:57

Bahia Feliz wrote:
barrychuckle wrote: So all you dip out on is seniority in a resign.
Which is the worst thing about it!

Seniority didnt count in our office,and hadnt for ages.

barrychuckle · Post by **barrychuckle** » 04 Jul 2017, 16:35

Bahia Feliz wrote:
barrychuckle wrote: So all you dip out on is seniority in a resign.
Which is the worst thing about it!

Since I returned 6 years ago I have received an extra 12 weeks annual leave. My office hasn't had a full resign in all that time.

Gredwyar · Post by **Gredwyar** » 04 Jul 2017, 17:50

Thanks for the replies folks, I read about the holiday seniority on another post which I need to let HR know about I guess. It seems I won't be able to use my past seniority for the important stuff though like making my hours up and picking walks. You'd think the union would want to help past employees back to the company that they failed so miserably during the revisions, but clearly not! They should at least be fighting to get working times into the contracts.

ernieshoe · Post by **ernieshoe** » 12 Jul 2017, 08:34

God I hate Seniority.
Sooner it goes the better.
Too many lazy people hide behind it and have the same easy walk for 20 years.
Now Juniority would make sense.
Give the easy walks to new starters the difficult ones to the most senior who should know every walk like the back of the hands.
Oh sorry wrong place - that would be in the real word !

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 12 Jul 2017, 13:06

ernieshoe wrote:God I hate Seniority.
Sooner it goes the better.
Too many lazy people hide behind it and have the same easy walk for 20 years.
Now Juniority would make sense.
Give the easy walks to new starters the difficult ones to the most senior who should know every walk like the back of the hands.
Oh sorry wrong place - that would be in the real word !

That couldn't go wrong, could it.

Whilst I agree that brand new starters need to be treated a lot better than they are, it would improve retention and reduce recruitment costs, giving less senior members first choice of duties would only create exactly the same situation and problems that happen with seniority.

Should senior men be able to get the "easy" duties because of their length of service. Well in my honest opinion, No. But you don't solve that by changing who gets the first pick, you stop it by not having easy duties and the senior guys should be trying to make all duties as equal as possible. Those that feather their nest are contemptible, and the old argument of "Well I had to put up with that when I started" is not a measure of any Union value I know.

DiamondSmiles · Post by **DiamondSmiles** » 12 Jul 2017, 15:32

ernieshoe wrote:God I hate Seniority.
Sooner it goes the better.
Too many lazy people hide behind it and have the same easy walk for 20 years.
Now Juniority would make sense.
Give the easy walks to new starters the difficult ones to the most senior who should know every walk like the back of the hands.
Oh sorry wrong place - that would be in the real word !

And please remember those who have been in the job 20+ years need slightly easier deliveries to balance out the wrecked bodies they now have. It's far easier in the job if you are in your 20's than your 50's.