Returning from maternity leave, company requiring flexibility, childcare renders this impossible!

FranRF

A friend (no...really) is returning from maternity leave. Family childcare has fallen through as family member is a carer and high risk of covid so no longer able to help.  Childminders/nurseries need set days to be booked to maintain bubbles. Place of work aren t open to set days. Money owed to company if she resigns. What advice can I give? Should the company be taking the current situation into account and (they allowed the staff member covering her leave to work set days, although this did impact other staffs routine, hence the reluctance to do so again). Any help gratefully received x

[Deleted User]

If her contract allows flexibility, then all she can do is pay for the full set of nursery days and use the ones she needs. Hopefully it's a short term arrangement until she can have family childcare again.

Comms69

No automatic right to flexible working. Basically it’s tough

TELLIT01

Childcare requirements are for the employee to resolve, not the employer.  May sound harsh but that's the reality.  If the employment contract has previously specified flexible working, nothing has changed.

Savvy_Sue

At the end of her paid maternity leave, she has the right to return to her old job. If that wasn't flexible, she might have an argument. If it was flexible, she doesn't ... 

She can make it clear that if her RTW can't include set days, then she won't be returning. They MAY decide that it's better to have her on those terms than not have her at all, but as it's already impacted other staff by allowing her replacement to be non-flexible, they may have decided it's not worth it long term. 

Brynsam

FranRF said:

A friend (no...really) is returning from maternity leave. Family childcare has fallen through as family member is a carer and high risk of covid so no longer able to help.  Childminders/nurseries need set days to be booked to maintain bubbles. Place of work aren t open to set days. Money owed to company if she resigns. What advice can I give? Should the company be taking the current situation into account and (they allowed the staff member covering her leave to work set days, although this did impact other staffs routine, hence the reluctance to do so again). Any help gratefully received x

The company are taking the current situation into account - they're trying to stay afloat and run their business.

How about the father asking if he can work flexibly so the mother can work set days? 

KatrinaWaves

Brynsam said:

FranRF said:

A friend (no...really) is returning from maternity leave. Family childcare has fallen through as family member is a carer and high risk of covid so no longer able to help.  Childminders/nurseries need set days to be booked to maintain bubbles. Place of work aren t open to set days. Money owed to company if she resigns. What advice can I give? Should the company be taking the current situation into account and (they allowed the staff member covering her leave to work set days, although this did impact other staffs routine, hence the reluctance to do so again). Any help gratefully received x

The company are taking the current situation into account - they're trying to stay afloat and run their business.

How about the father asking if he can work flexibly so the mother can work set days? 

Think you’ve got things mixed up. The company wants flexibility, not set days. The fathers working pattern won’t change that. 

ZaSa1418

She can use the fact that her cover has been given set days to help her, i mean if she slotted into what days the cover was doing then that isnt going to cause any further disruption

KatrinaWaves

ZaSa1418 said:

She can use the fact that her cover has been given set days to help her, i mean if she slotted into what days the cover was doing then that isnt going to cause any further disruption

No she can’t. The other staff have been impacted for her maternity leave. They have no obligation to make that impact permanent. 

FranRF

Thanks all! All valid points; your comments all appreciated.

thebrexitunicorn

 She can submit a statutory request for flexible working to ask for fixed days. The employer can refuse but they must consider it.  What is the reason they cannot agree to specific days?  What type of work is it?  If it genuinely isn’t possible there maybe isn’t much that can be done.  A blanket policy of not allowing any fixed days for any staff will disproportionately affect people with caring responsibilities  (mainly women), potentially it could be discriminatory but it might be reasonable in the circumstances, more information needed.