legal updates
Monday, 13 Apr 2009
flex appeal
With holidays on the way many minds will be considering time off work, or at least dealing with the presence of children around the house.
One consequence is that flexible working patterns will be a sought-after option for many, so it may be timely for employers to know where they stand on the matter.
Employees with more than six months’ service, who have not made another application within the preceding year, can request flexible working in order to care for a child under the age of 17, or 18 if the child is disabled. Additionally the right also extends to those who have caring responsibilities for selected categories of adult relatives.
Employees can request various changes to their working patterns, but it should be stressed that this is only a right to request, not an absolute right to flexible working. If granted, the change is permanent; the employee cannot insist that they resume their ‘normal’ working patterns when the summer break is over.
The application must state:
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it is being made under the statutory right to apply for flexible working;
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the caring relationship;
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the employee's proposal for flexible working, effect it will have on the business, and proposals for dealing with this;
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a reasonable, suggested start date for flexible working; and
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whether any previous request has been made and when.
There are strict time limits within which the employer must meet with the employee and within which the employee must appeal any decision.
Employers have a wide discretion for rejecting applications. If employers reject a request, the employee may raise a grievance and/or make a claim to the Employment Tribunal on the grounds that the employer has failed to comply with the procedure, or that the decision to reject the application is based on incorrect facts. The remedies for an employer’s breach of this procedure are limited to:
While these are not particularly severe, any Employment Tribunal claim, however trivial it may seem, can prove costly and employers should be aware that claims can be raised under sex discrimination legislation, which can entail sanctions hefty enough to dampen the holiday spirit.