I have been working at Kroger for about a year. I switched departments half a year ago because I wanted to try something different. I decided to go work up front and be a booth clerk. half a year ago, I was working 40 hours even more a week while I was going to school. things started to get really hard for me and I started falling behind. It wasnt until Jan where I was like, Im sorry I cant work 40 hrs a week anymore, school is a priority right now can I change my availability. My front-end manager said yes. they gave me a sheet and put in to work only 3 days a week. they granted me my days off and I started to focus on school more. Sometimes my old department comes And asks me if It is okay for me to work on one of my days of, I say yes because that department lets me know 2 weeks ahead. the front end watches me come on my days off. Then It wasnt until recently where I started to see that they are scheduling me on my days that Im unavailable. They dont tell me at all. on the piece of paper that I changed my availability on I wrote down, if they need me to come In on my day off, to please let me know a week ahead so I can work with my school schedule. they dont let me know. I just look at the schedule and Im working 40 hours instead of 20. also they dont post the new schedule until Friday or Saturday so things come to a surprise when I see Im working 40 hours Instead of 20-26 hrs. at this point Im looking for a new job. I am not they type of person to do a no call no show. Ive never done that in my life. so If that were to happen, something is wrong and its not my fault. Im scheduled to work mondays and Tuesdays (unavailable) and I have A 10 page essay due tuesday. this is why I asked for those days off. its super frustrating and at this point Imma start looking for a new job
Legally the manager can schedule you when ever they want to make the store run. I think there's a clause in the union hand book regarding that. Different unions different areas but pretty much about the same where ever I've worked. Not listening to staff's availability is a great way to get people to quit. Kroger has a terrible work life balance. If they schedule you on a day you're unavailable you're still responsible for that shift. You can hand it off to another or talk to the manager about getting it waived. I would suggest talking to hr and management about your work shifts and availability and scheduling. If they want staff they should listen. My last location lost a ton of employees because schedule requests were just suggestions not half to's.
I've never had that problem. They've scheduled me on a day I'm unavailable, and no it was not an error, and I just never showed up. It says in the computer unavailable those days. So after more than a few "death stares" for coming in the next day, I think they finally got the hint.
But I would NOT come in on your unavail day off if another dept asks you to. It will raise red flags and that's why they are looking at you when you come in to work. That is why you are being scheduled on your unavail days
