Can employer force homeworker to work in office?

gv6l

I have been working from home for about 8 years. I have a new manager who doesn't like people working from home. Can he insist that I work in the office? My job won't change. I'm a software developer and I have always come into the office for short and longer periods of time when asked.

gv6l

Sorry I posted this in the wrong forum . how do I get it moved to the correct one?

[Deleted User]

Is the home location specified in your contract, or is it an informal arrangement?

sangie595

In a nutshell - yes they can force you to work in the office. If home working is a contractual provision, they can give you notice and offer you another contract with the changed location. If you refuse, then you lose your job, and it is deemed a resignation - so no redundancy pay. You could attempt to claim unfair dismissal, but it wouldn't be a simple case.

Mersey_2

gv6l wrote: »

I have been working from home for about 8 years. I have a new manager who doesn't like people working from home. Can he insist that I work in the office?

He can't, but the firm could with sufficient notice.


You could raise a formal grievance (with HR via email). As you suggest, it may just be the whim of a new manager, ie his suggestion, rather than a new firm-wide policy.


There is no specific number of years' which triggers an automatic right (as in housing law or immigration). Although I have known employees succeed arguing that it's reasonable to continue a practice where it's been allowed by the employer and become the norm after an extended period of time.

prowla

I was classified as a home worker in my last job and the company decided it wanted me to be office based and offered me redundancy as an alternative; I took the redundancy.

getmore4less

IF contractual(maybe through custom and practice) then it should be a redundancy situation with the office being a potential suitable alternative(or not).

getmore4less

Is this manager new to the company or just new to you?
Is home working fairy common or is it just a small number of people?
Is there a policy in place?

tillycat123

I was faced with this situation last year, I was advised by a solicitor that it was a clear cut redundancy situation, substantial change in location and hours worked in my case so my role as was was no longer there.

I'm still home working a year on as I stood my ground and went through the grievance procedure as they didn't want to cough up redundancy but they are making life difficult probably in hope I will just leave.

sangie595

tillycat123 wrote: »

I was faced with this situation last year, I was advised by a solicitor that it was a clear cut redundancy situation, substantial change in location and hours worked in my case so my role as was was no longer there.

I'm still home working a year on as I stood my ground and went through the grievance procedure as they didn't want to cough up redundancy but they are making life difficult probably in hope I will just leave.

However, that is a different scenario. So there is no comparison. There is no indication that the hours of work will be changed. Or anything other than location will be changed. So unless the distance is wildly unreasonable, simply serving notice of a change of location to the office as a business requirement will be sketching the employer can do. If the OP resists then it can be enforced, and it is questionable whether an employment tribunal would support the OP. T tribunals tend to support the employer when it comes to business decisions.