Ok a real life business problem?
 

ok I own a few companies, mainly in transport. I post here in between work , purely for fun

I wont give you every tiny detail but enough info for you to possibly work out the best way forward

so the current situation is a tricky one, what would you do if you were boss

ok so I have say 10 bus contracts every day. I also have minibus contracts and taxi contracts every day

so one of my bus drivers went ill a week ago, so ill in fact hes been told he cant drive buses or minibuses for 3 months. so he has now made a dramatic recovery and wants a day taxi contract. the trouble is i have drivers on every taxi contract, so all i have for this guy is weekend work and the odd night. hes not happy he feels as hes been here longer than some of these other taxi drivers, he should take priority. he thinks its wrong that he was only off a week and now hasnt got a contract.

ive considered swapping the taxi drivers so they each only get say 3 and a haf days contracts to spread it out. this means swapping vehicles every day and night, also it means swapping drivers on every contract which the clients hate as the contracts are mostly with children

so what should I do?

he sounds like a nuisence you can do without, give him is cards, if he wont accept what your offering him

Best advice I could give you is to invest in half an hour of time with a lawyer specialising in employment law, see where you stand. Seems a unfair that he said he would be off for three months, you had to make other arrangements on the strength of that.

I would say offer him his old position back, and give him a day taxi position if one becomes available.
Does the minibus position involve heavy lifting and he is unable to do this?
Encourage him to be honest on his position, if there is a genuine medical need then consider it if poss?

I would have him meet with an "accident" :whistle:

If he's been told he cant drive buses or minibuses for 3 months, you cannot be expected just to make a position for him on day taxis when you have all available positions filled. If he cannot do his normal job, and has been told so, then I cannot see much that you can do, apart from him covering shifts at short notice. Unfortunately, employment and support allowance will not be able to help him during this period, if he is able to claim it, which may be the reason for his sudden willingness to get back to work.

..what..under a minibus or a taxi...?

I was joking.

yeah as you say I will happily give him his old job back (wih buses and minibuses) but all I can offer in the short term is part time taxi , mainly weekend work. no doubt he will now threaten to leave etc

Situation solved if he has a tendency to threaten that then just give him the cold shoulder and the jobs around the place that he doesnt like and he will bugger off and you can replace him with someone that shows a bit more willing.
If he is unhappy as it is you dont really want him being the point of contact for your customers anyway your drivers are your shopfront.. Harsh but business comes first.

The cold shoulder is a powerful tool and saves all the problems and these days risk of running someone down the disciplinary route.

If he respects you and the job he will just have to accept that you cant just conjure up the jobs he wants to run and will just have to crack on with whatevers available until the situation changes if he just gets arsey about it then he is the one with a problem and obviously doesnt value his job and it would be best for both of you if he moved on.

Like I said... speak to someone who knows about employment law. You need to know where you stand legally. If you don't do what the law considers to be the right thing, this chap will probably sue. You need to speak to someone who knows what they're talking about. Advice from amateurs on a forum on a matter like this is dangerous, frankly.