Post maternity leave return to work - minimum hours?

Tahiti

My wife is on Maternity Leave, and is in discussions with her employer about returning on a part-time basis (previously, she worked 35 hours).

She had it in mind that she wanted to return for two days a week which is something that a number of her colleagues do currently. She's been there for years, likes the job, and has always had glowing reviews. The plan was that she would increase hours once the little one was at school, and ultimately end up becoming full-time again.

She has however been told that she can only return to work if she does a minimum of 20 hours over three or more days - and that this is now the policy of her branch. She has been told that there is no flexibility whatsoever on this. The reason she wants to go back for two days is that she has childcare available for those days.

Although they aren't offering the flexibility that we hoped they would, I imagine that they're not being unlawful//underhand. Is this the case though?

Thansk for any help.

jazzyman01

They are required by law to consider any application for change. By stating their policy is minimum 20 hours shows a lack of this consideration. If there are a number of people already working less than 20 hours, cannot see the issue that the Company has, she might want to ask.

DaisyFlower

Employees only have the legal right to request flexible working and not the automatic right to have it granted.

They are being fair, they are not saying no to part time working but stating that there are minimum hours that need to be covered by staff.

Childcare is not the employers responsibility so always best to leave it off the flexible working application.

Once granted, its becomes a legal part of the contract so unless extra hours become available they have no obligation to increase her hours once your children start school.

Rockporkchop

I applied for a drop in hours after maternity leave - I previously did 35 hours but I wanted to drop to 14 (2 days). They considered it but I was told that they couldn't accommodate my request and it was 35 hours or nothing, that was despite having several staff working part time. They did print me out a thick wad of legislation that backed up their decision and the reason behind it.

Tahiti

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate them.

Although it doesn't fit with what we'd like, I can sympathise with their situation/position - and as I expected, they have shown the flexibility that they "need" to.

paulwf

How much flexibility is there within the 20 hours? Perhaps your wife could do 2 x 8 hour days then a 4 hour shift on day 3...if you can pick the days as well it really isn't that much of a hardship over a 2 day week where you might still be working 20 hours. Sure it is a bit more hassle than a 2 day week but not a big deal.

Also, you might be able to use the 5.6 weeks holiday allowance to drop the third shift for a number of weeks

Depending on how the holiday contract works with regards to bank holidays it might be in your interest to ask for working Mondays

Savvy_Sue

paulwf wrote: »

Depending on how the holiday contract works with regards to bank holidays it might be in your interest to ask for working Mondays

In theory, it shouldn't make a difference - where I used to work, and where I work now, you are allocated Bank Holidays pro rata, and if you're scheduled to work them you book them as leave. If you're not scheduled to work them, you get an extra day's leave.

That means that people who work part-time including Mondays get less choice about the days when they can book holidays, IYSWIM, but it also means they don't get more holiday than someone who works the same number of days NOT including Mondays.