Any success stories from challenging rejection of flexible working requests?

Pinneypen

Our office just decided to end their flexible working policies and bring everyone back into the office with the typical corporate bs about it being for collaboration. I put in a flexible working request to keep to our original flexible working policy on the grounds of caring for a disabled child and got rejected as they don't want any exceptions. I do have the advantage of very positive performance reviews and successfully having done my job in the prior change, but they really want to have everyone in the office so they've decided to stick firm.

Nothing is written down yet except my formal flexible working request. Anyone have any success stories in changing company's minds or idea of what works better in appealing to acas or employment courts and such?

Hoenir

Until everybody is "back in".  The approach understandably is not to engage in individual requests. As there may well much more behind the move in terms of internal reorganisation/restructuring to be announced. 

Undervalued

Pinneypen said:

Our office just decided to end their flexible working policies and bring everyone back into the office with the typical corporate bs about it being for collaboration. I put in a flexible working request to keep to our original flexible working policy on the grounds of caring for a disabled child and got rejected as they don't want any exceptions. I do have the advantage of very positive performance reviews and successfully having done my job in the prior change, but they really want to have everyone in the office so they've decided to stick firm.

Nothing is written down yet except my formal flexible working request. Anyone have any success stories in changing company's minds or idea of what works better in appealing to acas or employment courts and such?

Think very long and hard before taking your current employer to court. Yes, it is occasionally done successfully but in most cases can you really imagine what the real world situation will be like continuing to work there?

Some companies are, by nature, far more family friendly than others. Indeed many go far further than the law would require. Because of that it is easy to get the impression that your rights are stronger than is actually the case.

The situation you describe is complex so if you really are intent on fighting it you need to get some specialist legal advice. And no, ACAS and online forums such as this is not a substitute for proper legal advice.

born_again

Pinneypen said:

Our office just decided to end their flexible working policies and bring everyone back into the office with the typical corporate bs about it being for collaboration. I put in a flexible working request to keep to our original flexible working policy on the grounds of caring for a disabled child and got rejected as they don't want any exceptions. I do have the advantage of very positive performance reviews and successfully having done my job in the prior change, but they really want to have everyone in the office so they've decided to stick firm.

Nothing is written down yet except my formal flexible working request. Anyone have any success stories in changing company's minds or idea of what works better in appealing to acas or employment courts and such?

Did you actually get & sign a new contract when they moved to "Flexible Working"
As many did not, so you are still on old contract. 
Were you caring for disabled child before flex working came in?

We are going through this & a lot are pushing against it in these meetings, saying they can't come in due to various reasons. Yet all managed it before it started.

Annisele

I don't think ACAS would be particularly impressed with "they don't want any exceptions" as a reason. But it's a pretty foolish employer who can't come up with a reason along the lines of one of the following three when they really think about it:

• there will be a negative effect on quality
• there will be a negative effect on the business’ ability to meet customer demand
• there will be a negative effect on performance.

A couple of years ago I was in a similar situation to the OP. I'd been working from home since March 2020, and had become a carer since lockdown started. My employer decided everyone should come back into the office, but that just wouldn't work for me with my new caring responsibilities.

I ended up asking my manager what would happen if I just didn't comply with the "back to the office" requirement. He said he'd have a stern conversation with me and remind me of the policy. So I asked what would happen if I still didn't come in - and he said he'd diarise to have another stern conversation with me in three months time. So far we've had half a dozen of those so-called stern conversations, and it's documented in my employment file that my manager has told me I'm in breach of the policy (and have been in breach for two years). But in practice my manager knows that if I had to choose between my job and my caring responsibilities, I'd choose the caring. That means there's nothing he can do or say that will actually get me into the office every day; his choice is to employ me as a homeworker or not to employ me at all. I also have a relatively niche skillset, which probably helped persuade him to keep me. There are plenty of downsides, and I have absolutely zero chance of getting promoted, but I'm OK with those downsides.

I acknowledge that I've been very lucky, and that another employer might have quite lawfully dismissed me. My own employer still might decide to do that. But if you're prepared to accept the risk of dismissal, one option is just to not comply with the policy.

Hoenir

Annisele said:

I don't think ACAS would be particularly impressed with "they don't want any exceptions" as a reason. 

The employer can consider further applications once normality is reestablished. 

gm0

If your contract is x hours. Normal place of work.  Other locations/clients.  And pointer to policies. 

They can do this

And can reject the request

They need to do the flexi rejection properly.  And use the "correct" language to avoid falling in a post employment tribunal shaped hole of their own making.

But you do not have much to go on to push back. 

With a contract in your hand that you joined on that explicitly was 100% WFH that is a different situation.  Though not much.  <2 years it's still effectively comply with the change or goodbye - no reason needed to just say goodbye.

More than 2 years and explicit contract you don't wish to agree to change - they would probably have to reorg out the WFH roles with a new team structure where mysteriously there are none - duties redistributed - and do a redundancy consultation and have you all reapply for the non-WFH ones.  And stay (not WFH), or be in the redundant group.  Takes longer. Cost, morale hit. Same result.  Even with a contract that originally said WFH.

Could take legal advice - probably fruitless but depends on your paperwork

Could call their bluff as upthread if confident you are not going to be one of the chosen examples to be made. 
On account of being effective and valuable working this way on things which don't much require the "collaboration" being discussed.  If you think you and your line boss will be on the same page doing that.  Then perhaps it's an option to do it quietly.  If the business is large - not just 10-20 of you round the table with the boss who is driving this overall back to the office charge.

Get ticked off (to defend equal treatment of policy breakers) and somehow it is quietly slow walked  i.e. ignored. 
While a less favoured rebel gets the disciplinary then a bad tempered leaving do.

Pour encourager les autres.

Pinneypen

born_again said:

"Did you actually get & sign a new contract when they moved to "Flexible Working"
As many did not, so you are still on old contract. 
Were you caring for disabled child before flex working came in?

We are going through this & a lot are pushing against it in these meetings, saying they can't come in due to various reasons. Yet all managed it before it started."

I rather foolishly didn't get it in my contract. It was the work policy, and they changed it recently. It was in my recruiter's email. I trusted them to not change it back randomly, because I was pretty foolish. And, I didn't manage before, and from what I've seen other women like me with kids have generally had to go part time because they can't manage it. In the past I guess women just failed to manage it or quit the workforce. I think every woman in the office I know with kids is on part time now.

Annisele said:

"I don't think ACAS would be particularly impressed with "they don't want any exceptions" as a reason. But it's a pretty foolish employer who can't come up with a reason along the lines of one of the following three when they really think about it:

• there will be a negative effect on quality
• there will be a negative effect on the business’ ability to meet customer demand
• there will be a negative effect on performance.

A couple of years ago I was in a similar situation to the OP. I'd been working from home since March 2020, and had become a carer since lockdown started. My employer decided everyone should come back into the office, but that just wouldn't work for me with my new caring responsibilities.

I ended up asking my manager what would happen if I just didn't comply with the "back to the office" requirement. He said he'd have a stern conversation with me and remind me of the policy. So I asked what would happen if I still didn't come in - and he said he'd diarise to have another stern conversation with me in three months time. So far we've had half a dozen of those so-called stern conversations, and it's documented in my employment file that my manager has told me I'm in breach of the policy (and have been in breach for two years). But in practice my manager knows that if I had to choose between my job and my caring responsibilities, I'd choose the caring. That means there's nothing he can do or say that will actually get me into the office every day; his choice is to employ me as a homeworker or not to employ me at all. I also have a relatively niche skillset, which probably helped persuade him to keep me. There are plenty of downsides, and I have absolutely zero chance of getting promoted, but I'm OK with those downsides.

I acknowledge that I've been very lucky, and that another employer might have quite lawfully dismissed me. My own employer still might decide to do that. But if you're prepared to accept the risk of dismissal, one option is just to not comply with the policy."

Yeah, I would value knowing if there is any point appealing since they can always make up something. There's no point in appealing it if they just accept quality issues or performance issues with no evidence or such. I can try that sure. My work is entirely online so I think it would be hard to argue customer demand issues.

Hoenir

Pinneypen said:

 My work is entirely online so I think it would be hard to argue customer demand issues.

Are your customers internal or external or both? 

Pinneypen

Hoenir said:

Pinneypen said:

 My work is entirely online so I think it would be hard to argue customer demand issues.

Are your customers internal or external or both? 

External, in other countries.

LightFlare

The “traps” most people fall into when dealing with flexible working requests are:

a) you have a legal right to ASK

b) the company is under NO legal obligation to allow

c) people frame and word the request citing the benefits to THEM. Whereas the “art” is to word it to demonstrate that it will benefit the company (or not detriment them)