Working Families - Flexible Working Guide
Working Families - Flexible Working Guide
There are two areas of the law which govern requests for flexible working.
The Right to Request Flexible Working. This is for parents with children under six or a disabled child under 18. It is hoped that it will soon be extended to people with other caring responsibilities.
The Right to Request requires the employer to follow a set procedure. They can only turn down your request on one of a list of set grounds. For more details of the procedure see our factsheet on flexible working and/or ring the helpline on 0800 013 0313.
The grounds on which your employer can turn you down are fairly broad. They do have to explain why the reason applies in your particular case but they don't have to justify their reasoning. However, if they go though the procedure properly and they give one of the set reasons but you feel the reason they have given is not justifiable, you may be able to take things further under the Sex Discrimination Act.
The Sex Discrimination Act. This is the second area of law governing flexible working. Mothers have used this act to bring cases against employers who have refused requests for flexible working. They have argued that, because more women than men have responsibility for childcare in society in general (this is easily proved by statistics), an employer's refusal to grant flexible working will have a worse effect on women than it does on men. If the refusal cannot be justified as truly necessary for the business, then the employer could be guilty of indirect sex discrimination. A man may be able to argue that, where a woman in his organisation is being given flexibility and he isn't, he is being directly discriminated against.
Decisions made by Employment Tribunals in previous cases show that employers must have a very strong business reason for turning down a request for flexible working. They would usually be expected to show that they had put a good deal of effort and thought into trying to accommodate your request. Blanket statements such as - "we don’t do job sharing here", or "the customers wouldn’t like it" - without justification would not usually be acceptable.
ACTION POINTS
Read the factsheet on flexible working and check whether the right to request flexible working applies to you. If so, call 0870 1502 500 to order your free right to request flexible working pack from the Department for Trade and Industry (ask for reference no 03/524.) The application form can be downloaded from the DTI website (reference no 03/569X). If not, and you are a mother, you may be able claim indirect sex discrimination. If you are a father, you may be able to claim direct discrimination - find out if there are any women in your organisation who have been granted flexible working. Ring the helpline on 0800 013 0313 for more information. Working Families is campaigning to make sure mothers and fathers have the same rights under the law. Please do tell us your story if the current law disadvantages you as this will help us to campaign