Reasonable adjustments in hospitality re: hours

effyoddly

I’ve worked in hospitality most of my life, only in the last 5 years or so have I begun getting diagnosis and support for what I always struggled with and i’ve been at my current place of work for two years now! Never made it past a year anywhere else, most often a few months. 

I have adhd/autism as well as other metal health conditions and I’m diagnosed with fibromyalgia with suspected hyper mobility.

I’ve found my physical symptoms to have been progressing in the past year, but have always managed to work part time. Started uni in October, but i’m dropping out and asked my manager if I can go back up to three shifts in May, which is what I was doing before, but as i’ve been struggling with pain and more I wanted some easier shifts. After a conversation today, he wanted me to do two weekend shifts, which I wasn’t doing before. I work in a busy traditional pub, especially in summer and I know how hard the evening shifts can be. I’ve had a set Monday for a year and half and the other shifts have changed as my studies have.

Ideally I would like to work two day times (Monday and another day) and a weekend shift, is this reasonable to ask for? The weekend shifts are so intense and sometimes we don’t finish till 1.30, which means not sleeping till at least 3 and it ruins my sleep schedule, I feel awful the next day and it can cause pain flare ups which comes with brain fog etc. 

I have a call for an occupational therapy assessment next week, but i’m stressing about this (and many other things) and I would like to get this sorted with my gm. 

letitbe

I def think asking for 2 weekdays and 1 weekend is fair - you’re not saying no to working weekend so I hope your manager accommodates your request . 

Rosie_Scope

Hi @effyoddly, welcome to the community

It does sound like a reasonable compromise for you to spread your shifts out a little bit. But if you're not sure what your rights are, you could try contacting ACAS or Citizens Advice to see if you can get some guidance about it. There's some information about reasonable adjustments on the Scope website that you might like to read through too. One thing I would say is that if you put in any requests for reasonable adjustments it's well worth putting them in writing so that you can keep track of what's happening.

Does your manager already know about your conditions? Have they been supportive so far?

I hope your occupational therapy appointment goes well!