How do I make my employer get me home?

November 22, 2006 7:28 AM

What obligation does my employer have to get me home safely?

(FYI - I am in the UK)

I work in a call centre where I do permanent night shifts (finish at 1am). I like my job, I like working at night and it suits my schedule as I'm also in college. When I agreed to do this shift permanently (in mid-September), I was assured that something could be worked out with regards to transport, as the company (which is large and international) does provide buses for late-shift workers.

However, the buses won't take me home because they say I live too far away. They have a drop-off point less than five minutes away from where I live, but they will not go that extra bit and it's much too isolated to walk (I'm 20-something and female).

So, since September I have been paying for a taxi to take me home every night, all the while being reassured that something would be worked out with the bus company. To be fair, my boss has escalated this to her boss and seems to want to help, but still nothing is happening.

Almost every day I get told of new options - that the bus will leave me at the drop-off point and a taxi will be waiting for me there to take me the rest of the way, that they'll put down an extra (unworked) hour each shift to cover the cost of the taxi, but they haven't actually made any decision. I get brushed off daily when I ask what's happening.

Since September I have spent more than £300 on transport just getting home. I simply cannot afford to stay in this job and I would never have agreed to do this shift if I'd known what would happen. I have told my boss that I will have to quit - she doesn't want me to, but I think that's mainly because it's so hard to find people who like doing lates (I also work every Saturday and Sunday, which very few people would do).

I feel that they are leaving me in a really difficult situation and that surely as they are providing transport for everyone else, it should be provided for me too. But I don't know if they actually have any legal obligation to do so, so where do I go from here? And is there any way I'm going to see any of the money I already spent and am continuing to spend (they've never offered to refund any of it)?

I am not insisting that they even pay for all of my transport costs - I just want them to help me out. Instead they are making me feel like I'm asking for a huge and complicated favour.

(Sorry for the length.)

posted by anonymous to work & money (14 comments total)

I don't think they're under a legal obligation, unless they've specified in writing that they will provide you with safe transport.

You should write a letter to your boss, stating formally that you must (reluctantly) quit unless arrangements can be made to get you safely home. Give a deadline - write that unless such arrangements are in place by, say, 10 working days from now, that will be your last day of work. Emphasise that you are very happy in your job, and good at it, but that you cannot continue to work there under the current conditions.
posted by Marquis at 7:37 AM on November 22, 2006

If this is such a difficult position to fill then they won't mind making sure that their employee will be able to return to work the next day and not get attacked/assaulted/killed etc....

Market this to them as an investment in their employee/company instead of you wanting to get reimbursed for a taxi. make them see how it's in their best interest to pay for your taxi and how it will benefit them.
posted by eatcake at 7:50 AM on November 22, 2006

... Or they should give you a raise in pay equivalent to the amount you spend on transportation each month.

This is a business matter to them and not a human concern so you should treat as that also.

Good Luck!
posted by eatcake at 7:52 AM on November 22, 2006

IAAL - not yours. This is not legal advice and not to be relied upon as such. Get independent advice from a Citizens' Advice Bureau, solicitor or trade union representative. Community Legal Service can give you limited free employment advice over the phone.

Your employer is under no legal obligation to get you home safely whatsoever. Your employer is however bound by the terms of your contract of employment. If it states that you are entitled to a taxi in particular circumstances then it is obligated to provide a taxi only in those particular circumstances. Similarly if the limits of the bus service were made known to you then those terms are the limits of what company is obligated to provide.

An assurance that something would be worked out with the bus company is unlikely to be sufficiently certain to form a collateral agreement to your contract of employment; as such you would be unlikely to be able to rely on this to recover your taxi expenses.

You might argue that as a woman and particularly concerned about safety in the small hours the upshot of the above is that you're being discriminated against. It's possible but the company will be able to objectively justify the fact that there has to be some cut off point and that you're unfortunate in living on the wrong side of it. Otherwise they could be obligated to give people lifts very long distances. It's unclear from your facts if your colleagues are dropped off at their doors or dropped off at waypoints - this may be significant.

You've tried negotiation. The 'cup of tea' solution is to be more of a pain about it - raise the issue every single time you see a superior. If still get no satisfaction you should write a letter to your employer specifying your grievance - if this issue is going to drive you out of your job it's possible that a constructive dismissal claim is possible and a grievance letter is necessary to protect your claim. At this point see paragraph one about independent legal advice.

Section 2 of this leaflet tells you everything you need to know about grievance procedures.

I feel for you - this is an unfortunate situation but you are going to have to rock to the boat a bit with your employers if you want to get anywhere. I guess you need to decide which is more important to you - a friendly relationship with your superiors or your personal safety.

Don’t suppose a bicycle's practical?
posted by dmt at 8:00 AM on November 22, 2006

Does your workplace have a union?

If so they are the people to see about this. They'll have policy and procedure for assisting in this sort of case.
posted by handee at 8:12 AM on November 22, 2006

I am not insisting that they even pay for all of my transport costs - I just want them to help me out. Instead they are making me feel like I'm asking for a huge and complicated favour.

Well, it is. It's your choice to live wherever you do and your choice to choose how you get to work. I mean, if you asked for a cost of living raise, that's one thing, but they're going above and beyond what they're legally (the contract you signed would, I'd assume, have nothing stating this) and morally obligated to do.

I do understand how hard it is in you, believe me, I've been there, but they're doing a favour for you by trying to pull strings and help you out.
posted by dflemingdotorg at 8:22 AM on November 22, 2006

When my mother was in this situation years ago — for her it was a sketchy walk home from a train station — she bought a very cheap old used car. You just need it to run for five minutes at a time. That's not very much to ask of a car, and an old junker that will do the job could be surprisingly cheap. If street parking at night is free in the UK like it is here, this could solve your problem. (Another nice thing about very old cars is, nobody wants to steal them, so street parking is perfectly safe wherever you are.)

You might also see if there's a tax break in your area for work-related travel. Again, I don't know anything about how the UK differs from the US in this department, but if there is such a break it could get you back a little of the money you've spent. Maybe see if someone in HR knows how the law works?

I'm just brainstorming here. Sorry if these [technically non-]answers are unhelpful.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:30 AM on November 22, 2006

look for another job or find/borrow a used moped. I hope I'm wrong but call centers don't strike me as the most worker-friendly environments
posted by matteo at 9:24 AM on November 22, 2006

Write a resignation letter that gives a date for your last day, but indicates that you can stay on if the transportation issue is solved. If they really do want to solve the issue, that will give them a deadline. If they don't, then you;ll finally find out for sure.

Businesses are ultimately motivated by the bottom line. Whether they're going to help you out or not, the bottom line is best served by stringing you along with vague promises as long as possible (even though probably nobody is consciously deciding to apply this as a tactic). You need to change the incentives for them so that their goals are aligned with yours (and/or it becomes clear that they aren't).
posted by winston at 10:32 AM on November 22, 2006

Since Jessamyn deleted this the first time, but since it isn't rude nor unhelpful advice, I'll repost it:

Find a new job. Choose one where you find the commute acceptable. Your employer does not particularly care whether you find it easy or hard to get to work, nor do they care what you spend your money on outside of work, such as taxicabs. Your employer considers you to be easily replaceable, and they are correct to do so, because you are. The extra cost of having the bus take you to your home is more than you're worth to them. Accept that. You asking for an extra hour's pay each day is the same as asking for a 12% raise. They're not going to give that to you either, because they can hire someone else for 100% of what you're making, not 112% of what you're making. They don't think you're worth it, pure and simple. That's why you're getting the runaround.

On the flip side, call center jobs are easy to find.

[Dear Jessamyn: when someone asks a rather self-evident question, and they get a rather self-evident and blunt answer, that doesn't mean you need to delete the answer. Sometimes blunt and self-evident answers are in fact correct ones.]
posted by jellicle at 11:19 AM on November 22, 2006 [1 favorite]

I don't know much about call centers in the UK but my family ran them in the US for 40 years. We did drive home employees late at night and in inclement (is that a word? it looks wrong) weather. There was no contractual obligation, we did it because we needed the bodies.

It is difficult to find competent, articulate operators for overnight shifts. I would recommend asking your boss for a letter of recommendation, and give notice. You shouldn't have too much trouble finding another similar spot, and maybe the request for the letter will spur them into action.

My gut feeling is that the company doesn't give a crap, perhaps there's too much distance between the people who can actually approve money for your situation and the people handling it.
posted by astruc at 12:33 PM on November 22, 2006

The call center is interested in keeping you at the job, and not paying extra for transportation unless required to legally, or if keeping you as an employee is worth that much.

You say you threatened to quit already? If this is more than two weeks ago, and they still haven't done anything, quit. There is nothing you can do to convince them, and if you make empty threats, it will only mark you as a pushover and a troublemaker at the same time.

If this notice is very recent, let your boss know each day that unless something is worked out, you will leave on Day X. If nothing is done, leave on Day X, without question. This is not a question of what the company can or should do. This is a question of what the company is compelled to do, either by law or necessity. Do what you must, that amount of money over two months is simply too much to spend on transportation.

With the run-around you get now, I would not count on seeing your money refunded. Likely, you will need to quit this job, so follow previous advice, get a letter of recommendation now, and prepare for job hunting. Remember, clear cut-off date, remind your boss daily, and make it clear that you cannot afford to keep this job without some form of compromise.
posted by Saydur at 3:49 PM on November 22, 2006

It seems to me that the problem is inertia. I think they want to keep you but you are probably being too "nice" in not pushing the issue.
Call-centres are cut-throat enviornments generally and you're being polite.

What you have is a situation where your manager couldn't be arsed, it's not big enough and she clearly sees you as a "nice girl" = won't make a fuss.
A bus-driver who can't be arsed going the extra 5 minutes cos it's late at night, and again they've identified you as a nice girl etc., etc.,

STOP being the nice girl, but don't give them a cardiac arrest by being unexpectedly agressive which will only cause them to be defensively idiotic.

Do give them a certain date and be very, very specific about what you think you want to achieve. For example, they have verbally offfered you an extra hour, get it in writing.
Write to HR with the name of the manager who verbally offered this and all other promises they made as they are not worth much unless you document them.

It would be good to put in that letter that as a female worker you feel your saftey is compromised by your employer as at interview they gave you a reasonable expectation that you would be treated like your other colleagues and arrange transport home. The advice from our legal mefite above is excellent, there are key phrases in that which will make any HR person sit up and take notice. Use them all in the letter.

They are lucky to get someone for these graveyard shifts. State that very positively.
Good luck, keep us updated?
posted by Wilder at 3:16 AM on November 23, 2006

I don't have much to add other than your situation reminds me of the Jennifer Teague murder case that happened last year. Wendy's Canada has a policy that forbids employees from leaving their place of work alone and does not ensure that employees are driven home in taxis or picked up by parents. Apparently they are now reviewing their policy.

I think you should go back to your mid-September agreement and use that as your written arguement to your boss. Include all your conversations to date, what you have had to deal with from both your company and the bus company and what has been done to resolve the problem. State that the all efforts on their part have been unsatisfactory and that you would like a resolution to this issue by a certain date. After that date if they still haven't done anything, write a second letter to tender your resignation and state the reasons why.

And please be safe in the meantime.
posted by KathyK at 7:10 AM on November 23, 2006