News

This article written by Pam Loch appeared in the Financial Times on 21 February 2009

Question:

One of my staff is the primary carer for her elderly father. She has worked with us for the past 10 years on a full-time basis but has now requested flexible working hours as her father's health has deteriorated. Because of the economic climate, we cannot afford to keep her as an employee on a part-time basis. Where do I stand?

Answer:

If the request is made informally, you might be able to ward this off by explaining the current downturn. If, however, she is making a formal written request and exercising her statutory right to request flexible working, you are required to follow a specific procedure. This means that the request must be taken seriously and dealt with in accordance with timeframes set out in the Flexible Working Procedural Requirements Regulations 2002.

You don't have to agree to the request. You can justify rejecting it by relying on one of the following reasons: the burden of additional costs; detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand; inability to reorganise work among existing staff; inability to recruit additional staff; detrimental impact on quality; detrimental impact on performance; insufficiency of work during the periods the employee proposes to work; or planned structural changes. Therefore, you should be able to justify why you cannot accommodate her request.

Even if she pursues a claim, commercial business decisions will not be criticised by an employment tribunal.

However, a failure to deal with the request in the first instance could result in the employee being awarded compensation of up to eight weeks' pay.