I have an empoyee who refuses to work at our other branch location. He claims that it creates him an undue hardship since his child attends daycare near his usual branch. The two branches are about 10 miles apart. He always rails on about the cost and are we going to pay him for the daycare because he has to pay whether the child attends or not.

He is just an alright employee, and has volunteered to work at the other location on days when his child does not attend daycare. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Ask him if he needs daycare because he is being a baby. 10 miles? I drive 38 miles to work each way, and that isn't the longest commute others have.

10 miles? that is like 15-20 minutes if there is no highway? Someone needs to call the whaaaaaaaaaaaaambulence.

Unless you have a state law addressing it there is no requirement that I'm aware of that you have to accommodate his daycare arrangements. In fact it's his responsibility to arrange daycare to accommodate his work schedule.

If we needed this person at another branch and he refused for the reasons stated we most likely would accommodate him the first time with the understanding in the future he will have to make daycare arrangements to accommodate his work schedule. The next time he refused he would no longer be working here.

However I would advise to make sure what applies to him applies to everyone. IOWs don't accommodate someone else while refusing to accommodate him.

agree with Dan, he needs to work where teh job states or seek employment elsewhere

"We're not a social service organization, we have business decisions to make and customers to support. If we are unable to do that, we will have to make other arrangements - unfortunately, you will not be part of those arrangements."

I am fortunate enough to work with a group of people that bend over backward to help me with daycare and work arrangements. That does not mean, however, that I take advantage of their understanding or that I expect my schedule and job requirements to be based on the fact that I have a child. I have taken my daughter to daycare an hour early and had my neighbor pick her up so I could fill in at a branch 45 minutes away. It's called a job, Sir, and if you accept the paycheck you accept the terms.

Time-wise, how long is the drive?

The normal commute is 20 minutes from house to the daycare and then 5 minutes to work.

The commute to other location would be 20 minutes to daycare - 20 minutes to other branch.

I don't understand how working 15 minutes further from the daycare puts him in the status that he can not work at the other location. What is his explaination?

If the hours are the same at each location, it seems one solution may be to allow him to come in 15 minutes late, and leave 15 minutes early, if he absolutely can not drop off and pick up his child those 15 minutes earlier or later (which I doubt).

I don't understand why this employee is being accommodated to this extent. Since when does the employee dictate to the supervisor when and where he/she will work? I think it's time to develop a stronger backbone.

My commute is about 2 hours roundtrip each day and I have paid to put two children in daycare. I would never dream of complaining to my employer about this and my employer would not want to hear about it.

The really big problem this creates is when other employees start requesting extra consideration in both similar and dis-similar circumstances -
Whatever decision you make is the precedent that will be referred to

I walked into a bad situation where the employee was being accomodated all the time. I was just looking for people's opinions.

Dontcha just love it? Congrats on your new responsibilities! This is a great resource for you!

Years ago when I was pregnant with my son a platform rep at another branch was also pregnant. Our branch had specific designated floaters (which I was not). There were a number of times that I came into work and was told that I needed to fill in for the other pregnant employee because she did not come in. It was about a 5 block walk. I was annoyed because there were times (vacation, doctor) that they knew she was going to be out but still did not think to let me know ahead of time. I finally told them one icy morning when they wanted me to go over that (1) I was not the designated floater; (2) she did not come in because of the weather but I was also pregnant and managed to make it in and (3) if I slipped and fell on the ice and anything happened to my baby I would sue them. I worked for a bunch of disorganized a**holes at that branch and couldn't wait to get out. They actually criticized me in my review saying I did not get loan documents done and left them for others to do. I explained to them that we did not type up the loan documents until the day the person was coming in to sign. I always came in a little early and typed them up before the branch opened. The days I didn't get them done was because they shipped me to the other branch without any warning!

I think everyone at some point in their working careers will have challenges outside of work that impact their ability to make it to work timely, or may need to leave early, etc. I've only worked for one boss who would not accomodate any type of request concerning coming in late or leaving early, and I learned how to get around that.

I don't see how an extra 15 minutes commute would negatively impact an employee.

Generally I am on board with everyone here, but My question is what time does he get done working his normal branch?

I ask because several daycare centers charge you by the minute (usually a dollar per) for each minute you are late picking up your child... if he is currently just squeaking in before they close the way it is (or could be cutting to close to closing by working the other branch)... I can see how an extra 15-20 minutes is a hardship... for accommodating you, he may now have lost 2-3 hours of net pay potentially. Some people have great backup resources (family, neighbors, etc), and others are not that fortunate.

I think it is telling that on the days where daycare is not needed, he is volunteering to assist where needed. Also, if you have to staff the branch so often with help from another, maybe your bigger problem is not your ho-hum teller.

There are also some daycares that charge an extra fee for the child being at the daycare for maor than a certain number of hours. State law in some places dictates that the daycare is supposed to discourage children from attending more than a certain number of hours. In Tennessee, that number is 10 hours a day.

When I worked in a nearby city (30 minute commute on a good day each way) and had to be at work from 8-5, I was pushing the 10 hr mark everyday. When I went over I got charged an additional $5 per occurance per child, plus any overtime charges($5 per every 15 minutes per child) if I didn't get there by 6 pm. And I had 2 kids in daycare at the time. Not fun when there was a big wreck or something backing up traffic......

If the employee's daycare hours conflict with his work schedule, sounds like he needs to find other childcare or another profession. I just don't see how an employee's childcare situation is the employer's problem.

I will say again that I have had two children in daycare for basically all of their lives.

You took (all) the words right out of my mouth.

Most of the daycare or after school programs around here close at 6:00 and charge extra (average is $1 for 5 minutes or $5 for 15 minutes beyond that timeframe. Don't forget some of these places open at 6:00 AM to accomodate early workers so it is a long day for them too. Most are reluctant to stay beyond closing and will ask chronic offenders to make other arrangements for their child(ren).

I really do not see how this employee can say no he will not go to another branch - no matter the reason! I do not have children in daycare now but when I did and I had a problem with picking them up or dropping them off, my employer was not aware of it. I never wanted my personal life to be an issue that could be used to deny me, say a promotion because I could not handle my private affairs.

Is he actually in a "float" position? If that is his job, then refusing to perform his job is insubordination and you would be justified in taking corrective action.

However, if he is not a "float" position and travel between branches wasn't specified in his job description, you'd have a harder time enforcing it.

When I worked in the branches I often volunteered to help out in other locations when needed. However, sometimes I really couldn't go to a different location, even if the distance seemed short to other people. It got to the point where when I was asked and turned them down, my boss was very unhappy and made it known. I brought up the fact that: a) I was not in a "float" position, b) although I consistently volunteered to help, it wasn't always feasible; and c) I was going to graduate school at night, which was a short drive from my regular branch. Going to a different location, even though it might be 10 miles away, changed my commute to school. I then had to drive 20 miles to class and rush hour traffic was horrendous in our area. The added 10 miles would make me late for class. No, thanks.

Later, an actual "float manager" position was created and, since I was done with classes and only had my thesis left, I took that job. At that point I had no say on where I would and wouldn't go work. But that was my specific position. I could be assigned to a branch 45 miles away from home (which I often was) and also sometimes had to change branch locations during the day on a moment's notice.

If it is a daycare issue, why can't the employee just leave the other branch 15 minutes earlier and consider the extra travel time part of the work day? Here if a teller is sent to cover another branch, they normally return to their home branch in time to leave at their regularly scheduled time. Not sure of the situation though, so that may not be a possibility.

It seems as though many people here are heartless and feel that work should be the first priority. Whatever happened to "work / life balance?" Don't you have families? Each of my employers (past and present) have understood the requirements of personal life and allowed me to work around them (kids, school, Dr. appointments, emergencies, etc.). As a manager I try to give my employees the flexibility to accommodate personal and business needs. Sometimes that means I help out too. This dilemma sounds petty.

There is some information missing that can change the situation. If the employee isn't considered a floater, why is he being expected to go to a different location as often as this sounds like he is? I know I would be very inconvenienced if I was expected to start working at a location other than the one I was hired at.

The overage fees charged by daycares has already been mentioned, as has the fact that he has agreed to work on days when he doesn't have to worry about daycare. Letting him leave early to deal with the daycare should be soemthing that's considered, and maybe getting more info as to why it's such a problem for him.