Archived Approved..then.. Denied....

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I have a question for ETLs, TLs, HRTMs or anyone who can answer this.

So about four weeks ago I requested an availability change.

OLD AVAILABILITY
S-S: 3:30am to 12:30pm

NEW AVAILABILITY
S-F: 4:00am to 12:30pm
Saturday: 6:00am to 2:30pm

The reason why I had to change my availability because of my second job. Since I've been working at Target I've never been scheduled 3:30am.. I already knew I wouldn't be able to make it on time so that's why I moved it to 4AM. Friday nights are my closing nights at my other job.. that's the reason why I'm always late to Target on Saturday mornings or sometimes I call in because I'm exhausted. After months of being late or calling in.. I decided to change my availability to try to save my own ass a little.

My request was approved after two days. On this week schedule, I'm scheduled according to my new availability. On the NEXT week schedule, I'm scheduled according to my old availability.

So I approached my ETL letting her know that I'm scheduled outside of my availability. She then looks at the both schedules and say, "I didn't approve of the availability change. All changes has to come through me." So I'm like well in myTime it says approve but it doesn't say by whom. So she says that I'm required to work the scheduled shift.. so I told her no, I will not work it because of the lack of communication between you and HR. So I requested that she change it back to 6am or I'm going to ETL HR and STL. When I checked myTime it now says denied. I took pictures before even talking to her where it says approved..so she can't try to say it was always denied.

When I looked at my schedule like 30 minutes ago via Target.com/viewschedule .. I noticed she didn't change it. So I will attempt to talk to her again tomorrow and if she doesn't budge then I'm going to ETL HR/STL.

What I want to know before I approach ETL HR/STL is... can they approve it and then deny it?
 
i'm not sure if they can but i guess i wouldn't make too big of a deal of it unless you absolutely HAVE to change it. I would worry about getting on the stl's/etl's radar and then coming after you for just random stupid things.
 
Yes, they can deny any vacation or availability changes they want to.
Of course, the good bosses understand this creates a difficult situation and are careful in how they go about it.
A good boss would only deny someone if it was during a blackout period (and even then, might find some wiggle room) or if the change was totally unreasonable.
They would however make sure to communicate the information to the TM clearly and directly with all the other ETLs on board.

Guess which kind of boss you have?
 
With hours being cut at our store and most people only working 4-8 hours/week our leadership has quickly realized you can't ask everybody to retain open availability if you're only giving them 1-2 4-hour shifts each week. I once submitted a time off request during a blackout period due to having minor surgery, my TL and ETL declined and told me to try and re-schedule the surgery. I laughed at them and went to the STL. He told me to bring in proof from the surgeon which I did and I got it off.
 
So let me get this clear: They can approve it and then two weeks later they can deny it after they've already approved it, right?

@commiecorvus Lol.. My last ETL was very flexible. She had everybody info written down on the computer where she makes the schedule so she can try to fit everybody's request in there. Usually, she was able to grant everyone their wishes. My ETL now? Not so much...she's nice and knows her job well.. just not flexible and always try to throw "business needs" in your face.
 
The ETL thinks that you should put 100% of your time just for Target alone. I had a store manager once who was like that. She told me that I must either keep this part time job or lose the other part job. Sorry, but if a company is not going to pay me well enough to keep their needs good. Why bother?
 
I have never agreed with the idea that anyone can tell you when you can work. Your availability is your availability. If I can't work on Saturday I can't work on Saturday, don't try to schedule me because I'm not going to come. No one gets paid enough for that kind of foolishness. I have seen these kinds of situations before and we usually either go to our ETL and if that doesn't work go straight to HR. I would say make sure that you never alienate HR because they may be the ones that have your back in the end.
 
Ruthless and cutthroat. There is a guy at my work that told me over this past weekend that they changed his availability without his permission making him work a Sunday. I didn't meddle but from my understanding, he doesn't work weekends because that is the only time he can see his child. Oh and his child is out of state too. Fast, fun, and friendly right? That just seems illegal in my opinion. Changing your availability without your consent?
 
Ruthless and cutthroat. There is a guy at my work that told me over this past weekend that they changed his availability without his permission making him work a Sunday. I didn't meddle but from my understanding, he doesn't work weekends because that is the only time he can see his child. Oh and his child is out of state too. Fast, fun, and friendly right? That just seems illegal in my opinion. Changing your availability without your consent?

Yeah, That's pretty bad to schedule someone against their availability...Time to call Ze Integrity Hotline!
 
At my store, if you try to change your availability that will try to limit your weekends in any way it will be denied. The reasoning behind it being that everyone will try to have weekends off or have it so they'll only work in the morning. It's bullshit, of course. I understand it's retail and weekends are a part of it, but if someone legitimately can't have open availability on the weekend I don't see why they can't comply. There are plenty of people who want to work whenever they can. But people that have needed to have limited availability on the weekends have basically been forced to quit. They will not work with these people at all.

My store sucks. Management is terrible.
 
This is something I constantly fight at my store... With the "new" emphasis on the fill to need schedule, we're directed to fill the weekends- meaning everyone works on Saturday and Sunday. I've even been instructed to deny availability changes for pricing who only work m-f... "Don't want to set a precedent". Ugh. It's uber frustrating right now. Sorry...
 
I've worked at a Target Canada store since February 2013. Because of the company's 'work-life balance' philosophy our HR-ETL initially said all team members were to get 1 weekend off per month. After we opened in March that quickly went down the toilet. We are still required to have 2 days off every week but its never weekends. I've only had 2 weekends off and they were booked off and my TL asked "Do you really need to make yourself unavailable for a weekend?"
 
That's bull. Except for the people who are only available on weekends, I make sure that every one on my team has one or two weekends off each month, or that they at least aren't working Saturday AND Sunday every weekend. People that really only have weekend availability still manage to get a weekend of about once a month or at least one day off a couple weekends and maybe close on a Friday.

The thing to remember is that tms are hired in large part due to their availability. If you say ou have open availability and then later come back and say I actually need these days and these nights off, it's probably going to get denied. If you have a real reason (school, second job, family and/or childcare issues) most leaders are willing to work with you. I suggest talking to your leaders about availability changes before you suit them. Let them know what's going on before you just put in an availability change request that dramatically changes when you can work.

Also, if you're simply being scheduled more hours than you're willing to work, but do not need any certain days off, then just talk to your supervisor about reducing the amount of hours you want to work. I think you can change your max hours on the availability change form, but I'm not entirely sure.
 
If you tell them you can work weekends when you are hired expect to always have to be available on the weekends or it will get denied. I understand not being a "slave" to Target but you are not you are free to work else ware. I have never had an issue taking days off regardless of the day as long as I did it in advance. So if you want a weekend off here and there just request them off I doubt they will be denied. This is retail and the days of not having to work weekends are all but gone, its just a matter of time before those grandfathered into their preferred shifts either quit or get fired.
 
^^^
I've never had weekends off since I started, maybe like once or twice.

The things is I'm not trying to get weekends off I'm simply requesting that one day, which is a Saturday, that I come in TWO hours later than I normally would come in..
 
^^^
I've never had weekends off since I started, maybe like once or twice.

The things is I'm not trying to get weekends off I'm simply requesting that one day, which is a Saturday, that I come in TWO hours later than I normally would come in..


That doesn't seem like an unreasonable request at all.
It's not like you're asking for the day off, even if you were asking to switch from day to night shift that wouldn't be a bad thing.
I'm not sure what WTF is going on but it sounds like the boss is just annoyed that it didn't get cleared with her first so she's taking it out on you.
 
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