Can employer change my work location temporarily but indefinitely?

Nixer

Work is a bit thin on the ground and some people are being asked to work at other locations and it looks likely that I will be. As far as I can make out this is temporary, but for an unspecified period. One of the locations is 90 miles from my main place of work. The other locations are about 40 miles from work, but most of them are 20-40 miles from my home, so would be less of a problem.

Company regulations state that you can't have working day + travel of more than a certain number of hours so the 90 mile one would mean living in a hotel during the week. Family reasons (elderly parent rather than young kids) would make the 90 mile place difficult for me and I would rather resign than go (I also have clinical depression which they know about but I assume they don't have to take it into account), but do I have any other options - can I get them to make me redundant for example? Presumably if I refuse to go and don't resign they could dismiss me, but under what grounds?

Judith_W

I don't know how far they need to take your depression into account, but you do have a disability if you've had it for 2 years or it is affecting your day to day life. They therefore need to take reasonable steps to account for this, so unless there is a pressing business need why you specifically need to be at the site 90 miles away, it would be reasonable for them to look at placing others before they place you.

antonic

First things first :

1) Your depression - you have told work, have they told you if you are covered by the Equality Act 2010 and have they taken this into account in their decison making process ? - if you are unsure take advice from your union (if you have one and your a member)
2) Does it say in your employment contract that you can be asked to work away from home ?
3) If you refuse to work away what will happen ? - its not your choice as to if they make you redundant, its upto them.

Nixer wrote: »

Work is a bit thin on the ground and some people are being asked to work at other locations and it looks likely that I will be. As far as I can make out this is temporary, but for an unspecified period. One of the locations is 90 miles from my main place of work. The other locations are about 40 miles from work, but most of them are 20-40 miles from my home, so would be less of a problem.

Company regulations state that you can't have working day + travel of more than a certain number of hours so the 90 mile one would mean living in a hotel during the week. Family reasons (elderly parent rather than young kids) would make the 90 mile place difficult for me and I would rather resign than go (I also have clinical depression which they know about but I assume they don't have to take it into account), but do I have any other options - can I get them to make me redundant for example? Presumably if I refuse to go and don't resign they could dismiss me, but under what grounds?

Nixer

1) Nothing has been said to me about my depression, suspect it isn't covered as am not bipolar. Don't really want to make an issue of it if possible, however the 90 mile place would make it impossible for me to see my doctor and my counsellor.

2) My contract states that I may be required from time to time to work for limited spells away from base. Neither "time to time" nor "limited" is defined. It's very rare that people get told "go and work at location X for 6 weeks" it's usually "go and work at X until there is no more work" and there are examples of it being a few weeks and other examples of people being stuck somewhere for 18 months or more.

What I was getting at with my "what happens if I refuse?" is can they sack me for gross misconduct or something that's going to make me look bad to a potential new employer? I'd be ok with going to the other locations, although not thrilled at the open-endedness of it but I'm simply not willing to do the 90 mile one.

Yorkie1

Nixer wrote: »

1) Nothing has been said to me about my depression, suspect it isn't covered as am not bipolar. Don't really want to make an issue of it if possible, however the 90 mile place would make it impossible for me to see my doctor and my counsellor.

You do not need to have bipolar to be covered by the Equality Act. Depression is covered if, as others have said, it has lasted for 12 months (not 2 years) and has a significant impact on your day-to-day activities.

As they are already aware of your condition they have a duty of care towards you in that specific regard. As the 90 mile place would potentially impact on your health (i.e. preventing you from accessing your doctor and counsellor - particularly if you see either frequently) then there is a strong argument that they should not place you at that location. You would be asking for reasonable adjustments, which could include an agreement not to be placed there.

Furthermore, depending on your caring responsibilities and your father's condition, it may be that this could be used as an additional argument to support you not being required to work at the distant place - especially if they have some discretion as to where they ask you to go.

I would wait until there was a little more certainty about what might be happening, and then request a formal meeting with my line manager to outline my concerns, followed up with confirmation of what you told him/her in writing.