Advice required regards employment situation rights - location of work

Grumpy_chap

Mistermeaner said:

eg on a Monday I’ve been asked to attend a meeting onsite Thursday 

Mistermeaner said:

at short notice add on an extra night away with all that entails for the time impact on me and my family to attend a meeting which can just as easily be done on teams/phone 

Hopefully the OP has had some positive discussions with his employer this week and I was thinking about this thread / meeting incident as I drove home yesterday.

Around 4 o'clock on Monday afternoon, I was requested to attend a meeting in person on Wednesday morning at a site that happens to be around two and half hours' drive from home.  I arrived as scheduled yesterday morning, only to be notified that the other party was not turning up so the meeting was not happening.  I made the best of the day to hot desk work, and then duly drove home.  Arguably, this is a meeting that could always have been a web-conference and, no doubt, that is what it will end up being now anyway.

Obviously, none of that is good, but I simply shrugged and decided if the company wished to pay for my day to drive to a non-meeting and drive home again, that is up to them to manage their own profitability and value from my time / cost.  It also occurred to me that this was not the first time this type of thing had happened, nor will it be the last, nor was anything really exceptional in that type of event.  It's obviously not great that this type of thing happens, but it simply does.

Mistermeaner

There’s nothing quite like a diagnosis of degenerative and ultimately life limiting condition to help you reframe what is important in life 

I want to and intend to be home and free as much as possible to take my kids to footy, to help cook tea and tidy up and to prioritise my energy each and every day for my family health and happiness. Making some already rich people even richer is way down my list of stuff that matters so yes I will do everything I can to maximise my income and minimise my work 

We’ve all got a terminal disease and we’re all going to die and all of us will regret the time we wasted 

squirrelpie

You haven't said much about the upward management tree, despite some gentle questioning. But it seems to me that this is key. What is the relationship between your boss and the boss of location ZZZZ? Is the boss of location ZZZZ fully aware of your medical issue? Are they American or British or other, and aware of cultural employment norms here as opposed to in the USA? How important are your responsibilities towards location ZZZZ compared with your other responsibilities (maybe in terms of company profitability)? Why do you think the boss of location ZZZZ is 'on your case'? Business reasons or personal animosity or what?

LightFlare

sorry - but I think your expectations of the role and the companies expectation from a 100K+ p/a employee seem to be miles apart and isnt likely to end up the way you seem to be wanting

Mistermeaner

I haven’t gone into the details of the relationships as while I agree will be key to the outcome of all this are not relevant to the legal principles around contract law and flexible working etc 

interesting that people raise the salary as well as a factor as to my mind that is irrelevant- there is nothing I’ve read regards work locations contract law or flexible working that is salary dependent- sure I can understand how people may have ‘expectations’ of things at certain Salaries but who decides where these boundaries are - the facts are I’m paid to do a job that by all accounts has been done fully and well with present arrangements ; I’m not looking to change things the company is and this is where I believe my case is strong …. It’s them that’s changing expectations not me 

Grumpy_chap

I understand your reasoning for wishing for more quality family time.

Are you able to provide any update from the meetings and discussions you were supposed to be having in the past week?
Otherwise, all the thread can do is going around the carousel of previously discussed points again.

As for laws not being different whether on NMW or £100k, you are correct.  However, for £100k, any employer is going to expect a far greater level of commitment than the "work to rule" that might be gained from NMW.  There is also probably far more implied in the job description for an individual on £100k about the flexibility and commitment required than for a NMW employee.  Your desire to prioritise non-work matters is unlikely to be compatible with maintaining the £100k salary.  Unless you have some unique and irreplaceable skill set, why wouldn't the employer choose an individual to earn £100k that simply lives to work?

Mistermeaner

All fair comments. Not a great deal happened this week my boss got my flexible working request had no idea what to do with it being as he’s in USA we discussed it briefly I advised I’m not seeking to change any current practices just need to protect my health against what I see as increasing requests for travel. He’s going to take hr advice and we go from there 

met with senior not boss guy and nothing about my attendance was raised by him so I didn’t either , he was nice as pie actually which was funny considering what I know about him asking for my attendance and login data etc

Watch this space I guess I’ll update re the next twists and turns and no doubt be back for advice as things develop 

for me it’s still either they accept the flex working request or they’re paying me off , I know others disagree but can’t see how I can be terminated for breach so any termination of my employment will be with settlement 

Grumpy_chap

Mistermeaner said:

for me it’s still either they accept the flex working request or they’re paying me off 

That is a very binary set of outcomes.  Dare I say it, sounding like an ultimatum.
The company does not have to agree the flexible working request:
https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working/after-the-application

I am sure their response will be considered (and protect the company position against being a clear reason for payoff), hence the Manager who is not familiar with the process seeking advice from HR..

squirrelpie

Mistermeaner said:

I haven’t gone into the details of the relationships as while I agree will be key to the outcome of all this are not relevant to the legal principles around contract law and flexible working etc

In my limited experience the legalities are much less important than having a good lawyer. The company can do what it wants as long as you agree with their proposed settlement. And having a lawyer that pleads your case well is important before it ever reaches court. You pay the lawyer to understand the technicalities.

The relationships are key to agreeing any other outcome than a termination.

Mistermeaner

Hi all in case of interest im still employed. It’s been nearly a month now since submitting my flexible working request and no response from the company - I mean nothing (other than my boss verbally acknowledging receipt and saying he would talk with hr)

spoke with him today and he was surprised no one from hr has been in touch said he’d follow up. Being as he’s in US he has no idea what a flexi working request is or how to respond. 

Still a month to go but out of interest what happens if we ‘time out’ past the 2 months?

being as my request is framed around formalising the established custom and practice pattern , ie im not seeking to change anything just wanting to formalise the existing arrangement can they be deemed to have accepted it by not rejecting it ?

thanks