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Legal Balancing Act

Processing the "right to request flexible work"

Here is this article in full below. If you would like to view the original, please follow this link: Flexibility

In recent Flexibility articles we have outlined the new UK employment legislation and the issues arising from the "right to request flexible work" enshrined in it - for parents of children under 6 or disabled children under 18, at least, if not for the rest of us.

The government hopes that most requests to work flexibly can be dealt with amicably and consensually in the workplace, and outlines a process for doing so. But the legislation also spells out a legal framework for appeals, arbitration and employment tribunals, as well as pointing out a range of other relevant legislation on discrimination in the workplace.

So in all circumstances it is important that employers, employees and
employee representatives know their rights and responsibilities, and
can handle the legal implications of their policies, decisions and
actions. One estimate is that there could be up to 40,000 tribunal
cases per year dealing with disputes.

Clearly not all individuals requesting flexible work or their employers
are going to understand all the legal implications of the new
Employment Act. One organisation that does, however, is Time4Balance.
Time4Balance is a flexible work consultancy set up by lawyer Anna
Kavanagh, and has a particular specialism in helping people through
legal and regulatory issues and making their case effectively.
Helping individuals

Time4balance can provide guidance and practical assistance to individuals on:

* How to apply for a flexible working arrangement
* The different types of flexible working arrangements
* Devising a business case to support an application for flexible working
* Providing supporting evidence of successful flexible working arrangements
* Legal rights and issues
* Obtaining finance to pay for consultancy and legal fees.

Anna cites examples of helping individuals who have been refused the
right to work flexibly where Time4Balance has gathered evidence of
similar roles being carried out in the same organisation or the same
sector on a flexible basis. Examples range from a toxicologist working
for the National Health Service who wanted to scale down her hours, to
a City lawyer wanting to set up a job-share.
Helping employers

Employers must also see that they are on firm ground and have a
legitimate reason for refusing a request to work flexibly.
Time4Balance can provide guidance on this, helping them to understand
the legislative environment surrounding flexible working. The
legislation goes far beyond the “right to request” under the Employment
Act and covers such issues as the part-time workers legislation, the
working time directive, marital discrimination and parental leave,
Health & Safety and so on. They can also help in obtaining
evidence to defend a decision to reject a request to work flexibly.
But equally the advisory role may be to help develop appropriate
well-founded policies to accommodate flexible working.
Having the evidence

For law firms, Time4Balance can provide expert evidence about flexible working arrangements in an employment tribunal.

An important aspect of the approach is the use of case studies of
companies and individuals working flexibly. They have researched and
interviewed individuals and companies implementing flexible working to
determine the viability of the arrangement, the reactions of clients
and colleagues, the effect on promotion and other issues raised.

If either a company or an individual is uncertain of the viability of a
proposed arrangement, Time4balance can find and interview other workers
who are in a comparable job, with a comparable client base and in a
comparable organisation to determine whether or not a role can be
performed flexibly. They also have a database of roles, companies and
individuals working flexibly.

Anna Kavanagh believes that, by advising both companies and individuals, Time4balance has gained a unique insight into the issues affecting both parties.