Flexible working request rejected

MrsTinks

Hi gang

Can anyone recommend a good employment law solicitor at all? Had a flexible work request rejected and need to know if there is any point in wasting energy on appealing it or if that is just a total waste of my time...

It's quite a complex situation based on having brought grievances against the company and manager (upheld) and one for bullying against my manager (not upheld) so it's a pretty strained situation at the best of times...

Thanks!

MrsT

agrinnall

I'll let the legal experts confirm my thought that you'd be wasting your money. My suggestion would be put your energy into looking for another job as clearly neither you nor the employer are happy with the current situation.

MrsTinks

I appreciate that another job would be better, unfortunately it's never that simple If it was I can promise you I would have been skipping out those front doors LONG ago

Jarndyce

What were the grounds for your employer turning down your application?

I presume you are not in a union if you are asking about employment lawyers - I wouldnt' waste money on a solicitor to be honest, the right to request is simply that - there is no right to insist, and the groudns uopn which you can appeal are fairly limited and straightforward.

Are the employer's reasons covered by one the statutory reasons? They can only reject your application on one of the following grounds:

• 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
• planned structural changes

Equally, you can only appeal on certain grounds, for example:

• to bring something to your employer’s attention they may not have been aware of when they rejected your application
• to challenge a fact your employer used in applying their business grounds for rejection

You cannot appeal just to have another bite at the cherry because you disagree with the decision.

I suggest you post the employer's reasons on here and we can advise further.

hostiegirl

I too was turned down, my opinion is it's a joke of a right. You have a right to apply but they have a right to say no so it's a lose lose situation. I tick all the boxes child under 6 etc but still got the no appealed and still no. And the points above their reasons just get churned out I work for a large company who employ 1000's I would understand if it was a small firm. But the fact they are understaffed is not my problem I have no control over that matter.

MrsTinks

Jarndyce - I appreciate that it would be much easier if I could just post up their letter here however that would risk them finding it and even if not technically against the rules then it would greatly fuel the fire should they find out I have posted a their reasons here

Hence my question about a good employment solicitor Am I a union member? Nope - I was but frankly was so disgusted with the unions behaviour in the past that I did not renew my membership when they failed to contact me after I left them 4 messages trying to renew my membership.

I am however aware that I can't appeal "just to have another bite of the cherry" - however there are several points which we discussed in the meeting regarding the change of hours which have not been mentioned in their refusal. There is also no acknowledgement of my suggestion of a trial period to see if it would be workable in practice amongst other things and the fact that several of their arguments are flawed and incorrect - like stating that I must be available for escalations when our role has specifically been removed from the escalation document as we spend a lot of time in meetings on site with other customers and our inavailability was hampering the timely resolution of issues. So an argument for refusing flexible working because my absence will be detrimental to escalations when we have been removed from the process seems flawed to me.

So it's all a little complex...

pjcox2005

hostiegirl wrote: »

I too was turned down, my opinion is it's a joke of a right. You have a right to apply but they have a right to say no so it's a lose lose situation. I tick all the boxes child under 6 etc but still got the no appealed and still no. And the points above their reasons just get churned out I work for a large company who employ 1000's I would understand if it was a small firm. But the fact they are understaffed is not my problem I have no control over that matter.

I agree, it's a joke that these companies just care about their staffing situation, trying to stay in business and make a profit. Do they not realise they are a charity.

And as for expecting you to work the original hours you were employed, well now they are really pushing it!

Apologies for the sarcasm, but the attidude of your post suggests that they should just rollover to what ever you decide to do simply because you have a child. If they came back and said that they would divide the salary between two people, but also take the costs out of your wage for the additional admin burden, the recruitment costs, training costs etc (i.e. so they were in the same position) then would you agree?