Advice on tribunal and flexible hours requirement

satmanuk44 · 12 March 2018 at 10:20PM

Hi,

I had a verbal agreement with employer 12 months before maternity about having set hours which I was doing. On returning from maternity I have been told it was only temporary and that my contract states I have a flexible agreement and they now want me to work other hours.

The while my contact doesn't really agree with what they say the job description supplied by them states the below:

To work minimum 40 hours per week, the hours to be determined by your manager to ensure high standards are maintained."

I have not worked 40 hours for at least 10 years due to having children and my hours were changed although the also now refuse this was agreed. Does this statement in my job description mean they will win in a tribunal?

jobbingmusician · 12 March 2018 at 11:21PM

Not an expert, but I believe you have a case. Your work had been changed (as your payslips for the last 10 years before mat leave will confirm) but the employer had not updated the contract. I don't think that they would be able to argue that a change which lasted 10 years was a temporary agreement!

elsien · 12 March 2018 at 11:23PM

Do they want you to do additional hours, or is it the same number of hours but they want to change the days/times that you work?

BorisThomson · 13 March 2018 at 10:52AM

Have you now put in a formal flexible working request?

TELLIT01 · 13 March 2018 at 12:15PM

You say you haven't done 40 hrs/wk for at least 10 years. Prior to the last 12 months before maternity leave, had your hours been fixed and consistent during the last 10 years i.e. always working the same hours per week and hours per day?
Regarding the situation in the last 12 months, many companies review flexible working changes on a yearly basis and can move people back to their previous hours if there is a need. That's certainly the case where my wife works as there are a couple of people who were told they could reduce hours from this April but have since had the offer withdrawn, ironically because of others going on maternity leave.

satmanuk44 · 13 March 2018 at 3:54PM

They now want me to work less hours but more during the evening. When prior to maternity for 12 months at least it maybe 18 months actually I didn't work evenings.

satmanuk44 · 13 March 2018 at 3:57PM

No I simply asking to return on the shift pattern I left on. But they are telling me it was only termporary and that they have always rejected my flexible working requests. Which is not the case as I have been allowed to change my hours after both maternity leaves. But I have no proof aside from getting them to provide the totals that will confirm this unless they say they can not find them.

satmanuk44 · 13 March 2018 at 4:03PM

Tellit01 no they have not been exact for the last 10 years.

About 8 years ago my finish time was changed and I was relieved from on call duties.

About 6 years the evening work was reduced to 1 a week instead of 3-4.

12 to 15 months prior to maternity this was reduced again to 0 evening shifts.

All agreed verbally, yet letters they have now produced disagree with this stating they have always refused flexible working requests.

Pricivius · 14 March 2018 at 2:34PM

If every change so far has been agreed verbally, are the company trying to argue that they have always refused (formal) Flexible Working Requests?

So they have informally agreed changes with you over the years, but none of these changes was arranged under the Flexible Working Request process, which requires meetings and justifications and deadlines etc..

This seems to be the point they are making.

Rather than talking Tribunal, have you discussed this with them? Do you understand why they are requiring you to do these hours? Is there a way around this? Can you work with them to find a solution? You state you have a flexible agreement which you accept you have used to your benefit over the years, but these things are a two-way street so I would be looking to work with them rather than sue them.

satmanuk44 · 14 March 2018 at 4:31PM

Pricivius wrote: »

If every change so far has been agreed verbally, are the company trying to argue that they have always refused (formal) Flexible Working Requests?

So they have informally agreed changes with you over the years, but none of these changes was arranged under the Flexible Working Request process, which requires meetings and justifications and deadlines etc..

This seems to be the point they are making.

Rather than talking Tribunal, have you discussed this with them? Do you understand why they are requiring you to do these hours? Is there a way around this? Can you work with them to find a solution? You state you have a flexible agreement which you accept you have used to your benefit over the years, but these things are a two-way street so I would be looking to work with them rather than sue them.

They are stating for the requests that were made for flexible working they have always refused. I dispute that they have every rejected them. Which is shown, after asking for these changes I have worked the agreed hours of employment. If this was not the case I would not have had my shifts changed.

I have been trying to resolve this for 6 months, and have already started the tribunal process due to time limits set out by the tribunal service. I'm not saying I refuse to work the hours they are requesting to be awkward. It's simply childcare which is the reason I can not do this. Childcare cost for the afternoon /evening would be crica £130 for the same period I get paid £80. So I would loose crica £100 pw.

The employer has given me no alternatives, its their way or I face disciplinary.

Ozzuk · 14 March 2018 at 5:28PM

It sounds like you've had informal hours change agreed in the past, rather than a formal agreement from a formal request - i.e. a form stating what you want, and what the impacts to the team/business are along with business benefit.

I'm certainly no expert, but I can't see anything wrong with that approach, trouble is I can't see how you'd prove it was anything else.

Advice on tribunal and flexible hours requirement

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