Our care home has just told us that they will only do shift rotas two weeks at a time. Is this legal?

Answered by Sheila Scott

Dear C,

Thank you for your question.

I recently had a similar question and asked Chris King, our Employment Law expert at Napthens Solicitors and this is what he said:

“An employer should give an employee who works an irregular shift pattern reasonable notice of their hours. Normally this would be included in the contract of employment and the standard notice period is around 7 days. However, given your specific circumstances, if you feel you are not receiving adequate notice to take account of your caring responsibilities it would be worthwhile requesting an informal meeting with your manager to explain your personal circumstances and request that you are given additional advanced notice of shifts as appropriate.

Hopefully, this resolves matters but should your employer fail to take a reasonable position on this your next step would be to raise a formal grievance.”

I realise that this doesn’t completely answer your question but it is quite clear that you should receive at least one week’s notice. You should also check your contract of employment. If there is a different length of time in your contract then there is a process that an employer should go through with employees before making any changes.

Please come back to me if you require further information.

Best wishes,

Sheila