Advice required regards employment situation rights - location of work

Mistermeaner

2 days until i am at 2months after submitting my flexible working request. Occupational health report was done 2 weeks ago. No feedback from company at all, nothing in diary

What do I do if they don't reply by the 2 month deadline?

I am not minded to chase them yet as it is probably better for me that they mess things up procedurally as this can later be used against them if things dont go the way i want

squirrelpie

Mistermeaner said:

What do I do if they don't reply by the 2 month deadline?

Well that ACAS page I linked to says at the end "If you have any questions about reasonable adjustments, you can contact the Acas helpline." so that might be worth a call. It also explains a bit about getting legal advice.

Alternatively or additionally, after it expires I would write to your company's HR saying politely that you had expected a reply about your request before the deadline expired and would like to enquire if there's some reason for the delay?

edit to add: Depending on your relationship with your boss, you could also ask him whether he knows why you haven't heard anything.

Undervalued

Mistermeaner said:

2 days until i am at 2months after submitting my flexible working request. Occupational health report was done 2 weeks ago. No feedback from company at all, nothing in diary

What do I do if they don't reply by the 2 month deadline?

I am not minded to chase them yet as it is probably better for me that they mess things up procedurally as this can later be used against them if things dont go the way i want

Probably not as much as you would like to think.

Mistermeaner

flexible working request has been approved. They'll be sending me something in writing in due course - devil in the detail but hopefully this is good news. As I understand it an accepted flexible working request should be captured in the format of an amendment to my contract of employment - is this correct? Thanks

squirrelpie

It's certainly true with the spec-writers' meaning of 'should'. Whether it's true in any stronger sense, I don't know.

Mistermeaner

Hi all - thought I’d dust this thread off and give an update plus seek further input 

as mentioned my flexible working request has been verbally approved - I’ve been informed by both hr and my boss that this is the case although still nothing in writing. I have emails from hr saying they’ll provide written confirmation and apologising for delays in providing it so I think im covered that my employment contract has now been formally amended that I need only be in the office 2 days a week and the remote office every other week 

that aside senior uk manager that started getting on my case and prompting all of this continues to agitate. 

Not with me directly but daily raises issues about me with my boss - I know everyone on here is always ‘blameless’ regards issues with their employer but genuinely the stuff he’s raising is either total non issues or proven on numerous occasions with written evidence to be factually incorrect. My boss recently visited and met all of my team 1:1 and numerous stakeholders and of course there were suggestions of improvements in what me and team are doing but in general everyone is more than happy with me , my performance and the service my team provide to the business

My boss is in complete agreement that senior uk manager is out of order and is intending to escalate within senior management as he is mystified as to what the problem is. 

We have written proof of senior uk mgr fabricating things I have done or calling out the quality of my work factually incorrectly. In addition to this we have numerous proveable examples of direct undermining such as eg moving my staff to a new office without any discussion or warning to me (first I knew my team were complaining to me about moving) and seconding one of my team to a project without again discussing with me. 

He clearly wants rid of me I get that but face to face is nice as pie with me , it’s bizarre 

he also hasn’t made any adjustments based on my flexible working still insisting on face to face meetings split over multiple days of the week with no teams options (despite the flexi working request specifically requiring teams options for meetings)

my boss had no idea this guy was having IT check my login records etc and was shocked when I told him 

my boss is totally onboard that the guy is being at best unreasonable or more likely downright guilty of bullying in some form hence looking to escalate

i did discuss with my boss whether I need to raise a formal grievance- he said it’s up to me; im not sure tactically what would be best at this stage , I expect once raised regardless of how ‘right’ I am it will be a nuclear option as regardless of what law might say there is unlikely to be a scenerio where me and uk manager continue to work together; one or other of us will likely have to leave. If it’s me with the flexi working disabled status and likely successful grievances I would hope this would result in some form of payout well over and above my notice (which would be 6 months minimum) 

likewise im happy to stay employed especially given the flexibility I now have 

not sure what advice I am after specifically but I guess thoughts and comments on keeping things informal for now or escalating into formal grievance 

nb I’ve kept detailed contemporaneous notes and copies of emails etc as evidence 

Grumpy_chap

Mistermeaner said:

i did discuss with my boss whether I need to raise a formal grievance- he said it’s up to me; im not sure tactically what would be best at this stage , I expect once raised regardless of how ‘right’ I am it will be a nuclear option as regardless of what law might say there is unlikely to be a scenerio where me and uk manager continue to work together; one or other of us will likely have to leave. If it’s me with the flexi working disabled status and likely successful grievances I would hope this would result in some form of payout well over and above my notice (which would be 6 months minimum) 

I suspect if you raise the grievance it will, as you say, result in either the UK Manager or you leaving the business.

I suspect it will be you.

I very much suspect this will not be with the payout you would hope for.

Has this thread come full circle?  Right back on page one you were pretty much suggesting you want out and want a payout to facilitate your exit.

Mistermeaner said:

im prepared to stand firm on this and ultimately if they deem this unacceptable we’ll be in severance discussions in which case it will be more £ for me than simple dismissal IMO 

squirrelpie

"My boss is in complete agreement that senior uk manager is out of order and is intending to escalate within senior management as he is mystified as to what the problem is."
I think I'd wait until I knew the result of your manager's initiative. Keep collecting the evidence meanwhile of course!

Mistermeaner

Hi grumpy chap thanks for comments , not sure it’s come full circle - I stood firm as I intended and the business accepted my position in the form of a flexible working arrangement based on me being assessed as disabled by occupational health. I therefore have a contract which is what I want and fff protection of being designated disabled - my employer has a legal obligation to make reasonable adjustments 

I agree it may be me who leaves but given the situation i don’t understand how this can occur without a payoff  - can you please elaborate as to the basis on which my employer could terminate my employment ? Thanks 

LightFlare

Mistermeaner said:

Hi grumpy chap thanks for comments , not sure it’s come full circle - I stood firm as I intended and the business accepted my position in the form of a flexible working arrangement based on me being assessed as disabled by occupational health. I therefore have a contract which is what I want and fff protection of being designated disabled - my employer has a legal obligation to make reasonable adjustments 

I agree it may be me who leaves but given the situation i don’t understand how this can occur without a payoff  - can you please elaborate as to the basis on which my employer could terminate my employment ? Thanks 

Pick a number between 1 and 1000

The methods of ending a contract can be very simple (if they set their mind to it)

As a note - even though OH may have deemed you to be classed as disabled - untill that is backed up by proper medical opinion/diagnosis, its actually only worth the paper it’s written on