Need advice - very long post!

[weakerthan]

Sorry about the length of this, I’ve tried to write everything down so I’ve got a full timeline of everything! What I what to know is, does any of the following give me cause to file a grievance? I’m at a complete loss as to where to go from here. (I’ve had to replace all the names so hope it still reads okay!)

I began my maternity leave in February 2018. My line manager at this time was (doms name).

I contacted him in May 2018 to enquire about sabbaticals as I was having problems sorting childcare for my return. He informed me that he was no longer in the office and his replacement was (doms name).

I contacted the office several times in June 2018 but couldn’t get hold of her and despite leaving messages I never received a phone call back.

In November 2018 I again attempted to contact the delivery office but struggled to speak to anyone who was willing or able to help, all I had found out was that (doms name) was no longer there. I contacted (union guy) to find out who the DOM was and how to contact them directly. He gave me (current doms) details.

I emailed her in November to again enquire about a sabbatical. She responded to say she would send out paperwork but this never materialised.

In early January my childminder informed me she could now accommodate both children so I never pursued the idea of taking a sabbatical.

I immediately began trying to organise my return. I had not heard back from my annual leave request form and I needed to know the dates to pass on to the childminder.

I rang the delivery office 5 or 6 times in early January but no one was able to tell me what my holidays were and promises of returned phone calls never materialised. I again reached out to (union guy) and he immediately gave me my allocated leave dates. I then asked him about my leave from the previous year which had been added on to the end of my maternity so I could find out my exact return date but he advised me to speak to (another staff member) about this, which I did, and he gave me my final return date (28th March).

By mid March it became apparent that my daughter wasn’t going to be settled at the Childminder’s in time for my return. I also wanted to enquire about a flexible working request due to my 7pm finish time clashing with my daughters bedtime and her still being reliant on being breastfed to sleep.

I began contacting the office on the 23rd March but (the Dom) was never available. On the 25th March the phone was answered by (a line manager). This is the first time I spoke to a manager who actually knew who I was due to the amount of staff changes in the time I’d been off. He informed me that (the Dom) was busy at that time but he wrote down my number and informed me she’d ring me back as soon as possible. This never happened so I emailed Her instead and asked to go into the office to speak to her the following day, which was agreed.

At this point I spoke to Her about taking 2 weeks unpaid leave and about a flexible working request which would allow me to finish at 6pm. I handed in 2 letters with all the information written down, including the date my 2 weeks unpaid leave would begin. She immediately agreed to the leave and said that, with regards to the change of hours, her first thought was to put me on LATs but that it was something she’d need to look into. She told me she’d email me that evening or the next day to keep me informed. I left the meeting feeling happy because she sounded confident about being able to find something suitable for me.

I didn’t hear anything back so I emailed her on the 1st April to ask if she’d been able to look into it any further. I received no reply. On the 8th April I tried calling her directly but the call rang out so I text her to find out if she had managed to sort anything out, she immediately replied to say she hadn’t. I tried calling again as I was now feeling extremely anxious and confused at the lack of contact but there was again no answer. I texted again to ask whether there was still an opportunity to do LATs, but she said it depended on various things and that I should call again the next day as she had to deal with something.
I called at 10am the next day but the call again rang out. The same thing happened again at 1.30pm and 2:30pm so I texted to ask when would be a convenient time to ring. She replied to say she was currently in meetings but didn’t tell me when would be a good time to ring.

The following day I rang Her at 9.15am but again the call rang out so I text to ask if there was a convenient time to ring that day. I received no reply. I tried calling one more time at 10.15am but again she did not pick up. By this time I was extremely stressed and wasn’t sure how to proceed. I called the delivery office that afternoon but was informed she was unavailable.

On Thursday morning at 7.30am I rang the delivery office as I was now quite panicked due to having had no contact about my return to work that day but the call rang out. I attempted twice more before 9am but the phone was engaged.

I turned up for work at 2pm and checked the rota but couldn’t find my name, so I headed towards (the doms) office to find out what the plan for me was. I bumped into (the Dom) leaving her office and the first thing she said to me was that she hadn’t been able to work anything out, that she was about to go into a meeting and didn’t have time to speak to me at that time. I asked if there was anything else that might be worth pursuing such as earlier finishes on my collections and she said that if it was workable, she had no problem letting me do that. She said she would need to sit down with (staff member dealing with collections rota) to find out what options there were.

I then asked if she knew what I was doing that day as it was my first day back and she took me to try and find someone. I was feeling quite on edge as I felt like she had got immediately defensive before I’d even had chance to speak.

She told me that if she’d known I was coming back today she would have sorted something. I mentioned that I’d been trying to sort out my return but wasn’t able to speak to her, and again the conversation felt confrontational as though she was treating me as an inconvenience.

We also spoke to (line manager) who arranged for me to go on PPI, but as this wasn’t due to start for an hour I asked (the Dom) whether it would be worth me sitting down with (staff member dealing with collections rota) to discuss options for a 6pm finish and she agreed this was a good idea. I was then left with (different line manager) who gave me a brief update on some of the changes that had taken place during my absence (including several management changes, job opportunities and the beginning of an indoor revision).

I was then left to my own devices for around 45 minutes, feeling more and more uncomfortable as the time passed. By this time I was quite frankly disgusted by how my return had been dealt with.

When (collections rota guy) arrived I asked to sit down with him to discuss options regarding my flexible working request, as agreed with (the Dom). I wish to make it clear that at no point did I say I HAD to have the hours I requested or that I could no longer work past 6pm. I simply gave him the parameters of my request (ie finishing at 6pm) and asked him what was possible. He said it was a head scratcher but that he thought there were probably possibilities there for me. One option discussed was cover for a collection which, by starting and finishing 15 minutes later than normal, and by taking my 20 minutes meal relief at the end of the shift, would mean I could have a 6.10pm finish time. I was happy that this could be a workable possibility and he said he would discuss this option with (the dom).

I felt that progress had been made and that evening I felt happy that (collections rota guy) and I had been able to figure something out, as even if a 6pm finish wasn’t possible for every shift, even sorting it for one shift would be a massive help and a weight of my shoulders.

On Friday I arrived at work 15 minutes early as I had arranged to train on the first part of (name’s) collection as I had never done this before. When we got back (the Dom) asked if she should speak to me so I followed her into the office.

As soon as we were in the office she asked me whether I had told (collections guy) that I HAD to finish at 6pm and said that she’d told me yesterday there was nothing she could do for me. I was completely dumbfounded by this because only the day before I had spoken to her about speaking to (collections guy) and I actually thought I was helping matters as she hadn’t had time to look into it yet. I said I didn’t think she’d said that there was nothing she could do and she said ‘despite what you may think, I’m not in the habit of telling lies’. She reiterated that me going on to LATs wasn’t possible and I said I understood that but that I thought we were going to look into other options?

She then said that yes it was something we could look into but wasn’t guaranteed. I was struggling to understand the direction of the conversation as it seemed she was accusing me of throwing my weight around by demanding particular hours, yet I felt it was a matter of semantics; she believed I had said I HAD to have particular hours. Whereas what I was actually saying was, within the parameters of my flexible working request, these are the hours I can do.

I tried to explain this but the conversation was feeling extremely confrontational and I could feel myself getting upset. I asked her if we could go and sit down to discuss it as it was clear she believed I had done something wrong, but she refused as she was due to go home.

She then told me I had made her feel ‘uncomfortable’ by turning up for work yesterday. I reminded her that I’d been in to see her 2 weeks ago about the unpaid leave and that it had now ended but she said she didn’t expect me to ‘just turn up on a Thursday’. I said I had been trying to organise my return for some time and had rang several times. She said she was busy and didn’t always have time to answer calls. I said I had expected a phone call back but she told me she worked long hours and that when she got home she didn’t want to be making phone calls.

I actually couldn’t believe what she was saying to me. I’d had no welcome back, no apology for the unanswered calls and emails, and now I felt I was being blamed for making her feel uncomfortable for turning up for work on the correct day. Being disorganised is one thing but making me feel unwelcome and like an inconvenience is something else.

I was also embarrassed as other people were coming into the room during this conversation despite me asking to go somewhere else to discuss it. I felt like I should have been offered some confidentiality before she accused me of calling her a liar.

I tried to steer the conversation back to the issue at hand which was my flexible working request; I told her (collections guy) had some ideas and tried to explain them but by this time I was so shaken by her behaviour that I struggled to be articulate. She also told me I needed to get the official flexible working request form to fill in, yet this was not mentioned when I handed in the flexible working request letter I had written 2 weeks previously. I also wasn’t told where to find this form. This felt like a sudden changing of the goalposts. She then said she had to go home.

I went to the toilets as I was very upset and spent around 20 minutes trying to calm myself down, and then I had to go out on the collection.

On the way out I decided to tell (line manager)what had just happened. However I got upset again and he took me into a room to discuss it. He made some notes and sent me home as I was in no state to continue with the collection. He said he thought it was a good idea to organise a meeting with (the Dom) to see if the issues could be resolved.

Over the weekend I had time to digest the way my return to work was handled and I believe there has been a series of failings which contributed to me feeling extremely unhappy, stressed and let down.

On Monday my doctor issued me with a 2 week statement of fitness for work which advised, if offered, a phased return to work with appropriate support. I then spoke to (line manager) to ask if he’d managed to speak to anyone regarding the meeting and to inform him of my fit note. He said he would talk to (the Dom) and get back to me.

This was 2 weeks ago and I’ve had zero contact from anyone. I’m due back today but feel sick at the thought of it.

I realise this is an extremely long description of events but I believe there has been a culmination of failings over a long period of time which together have resulted in my current feelings. To be brief, my issues are as follows:
- My treatment on return from maternity leave; no plan in place, no welcome back, being made to feel at fault for managers disorganisation
- Not being informed of the proper flexible working request procedures until 2 weeks after I’d been in to discuss flexible working with (the Dom)
- Not being kept up to date with structural changes and changes in management that affect me; (Old Dom) was my only point of contact when I began my maternity and I was not informed that he had left or who his replacement was. I have also just learnt that an indoor revision has recently been undertaken which may result in contract changes and losses that could affect me.
- Not being informed about job opportunities
- no attempt to contact me during the 2 weeks I was signed off with stress despite promises of a meeting to resolve issues

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Yes I think you have a case for a grievance, however, it is very complicated so I would suggest contacting your Equalities Rep at Branch HQ as they will be up to date on the agreements and legislation. They may pass it down to the local rep to handle but at least they'll be aware and will hopefully provide oversight.

However, the National Conference is on this week so it may be a struggle to contact them.