Child care problems

Louise is a staff member at OTC Pharmacy who has been an excellent employee for a few years. However, over the past six months she's had to ask for time off almost every week, as she's had a lot of problems with family commitments – mainly child care for her children.  

Louise asks her manager Bryn for a change in her working hours to fit in with her child care arrangements.

"Is it possible to change my hours?" she asks. "It's hard to juggle dropping off the kids and getting to work, and then getting back to them by the time the nursery closes."

"I understand the situation," Bryn says, "but it makes running the pharmacy difficult. Our contract means we have to open daily, six days a week, from 8am to 6.30pm. And it's not that simple – if I make an exception for you, it's going to cause problems.

"Rachel's keen to change hours too, and if I say you can do it, how can I say she can't change her hours as well?"
 
Can Bryn require Louise to stick to her contracted hours?

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