Flexible working rights extended.

On April 6 2009 the right to request flexible working was extended to parents with children aged under 17.

RML has compiled this guidance on flexible working and how it may affect your company.

1. Eligibilty

Any employee can ask their employer for flexible work arrangements, but the law provides some employees with the statutory right to request a flexible working pattern. The employee must:

• be an employee ,not an agency worker.
• have worked continuously for the company for 26 weeks' before applying
• not have made another application to work flexibly under the right during the past 12 month

They will then have the statutory right to ask if they:

• have or expect to have parental responsibility of a child aged 17 or under or a disabled child under 18
• are the parent/guardian/special guardian/foster parent/private foster carer or as the holder of a residence order or the spouse, partner or civil partner of one of these and are applying to care for the child
• are a carer who cares, or expects to be caring, for an adult who is a spouse, partner, civil partner or relative; or who although not related to you, lives at the same address as you

As an employer you must seriously consider any application that is made, and can only be rejected it if there are good business reasons for doing so (see below). An employee may (subject to the above) have the right to ask for flexible working – but not the right to have it.

As an employer you may agree to the request to work flexibly simply on the basis of their application. If this is the case you should write to the employee within 28 days with the agreed changes to their employment contract and the start date.

If the request is not agreed at this stage then you must meet with your employee to discuss their application within 28 days of receipt, at a mutually agreed date.

The employee is allowed to bring a fellow worker or workplace union representative to the meeting.

As an employer you might suggest an alternative to the working pattern, or perhaps a trial period. It may be that you are unable to agree to their application but may be able to agree a compromise.

If your employee cannot attend the meeting they should contact you as soon as possible to rearrange the meeting at a mutually convenient time. If they also fail to attend the rearranged meeting and do not provide a reasonable explanation, then you are entitled to treat their application as having been withdrawn and they will not be entitled to make another application for another year.

You should make sure that you consider any request properly, being sure to avoid any possible discrimination (for example, sex discrimination).

RML members should contact RML for advice.

3. The Outcome

You should inform your employee, in writing, of your decision within 14 days of the meeting. If it is mutually agreeable, this time limit can be extended (for example, if you need to speak to someone who is on holiday).

If the request is accepted then the written notification, which must be dated, should include:

• a description of your new working pattern
• the date it is to take effect

The following is the list of eight business reasons set out in the law for refusing request:

• burden of additional costs
• detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
• inability to reorganise work among existing staff
• inability to recruit additional staff
• detrimental impact on quality
• detrimental impact on performance
• insufficiency of work during the periods the employee proposes to work
• planned structural changes

An employee is entitled to appeal against the Company’s decision.

You must hold a meeting to discuss the appeal within 14 days of the employee giving notice of their intention to appeal.

The employee may be accompanied to the meeting with a fellow worker or union representative.

You must notify the employee in writing of your decision within 14 days of the meeting.

The decision of the Appeal Panel is final.