Flexible Working Hours and the Law

Section 47 of the Employment Act 2002 amended the Employment Rights Act 1996 in relation to applications to work flexibly. An application to work flexibly can be increasing or decreasing the amount of hours you work or the weeks you work or where you work.

Qualifying conditions

In order to be entitled to make an application the member of staff has to have a child under 6 or, if the child is disabled, under 18. The child is legally defined as disabled for the purposes of this legislation if they are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance.

Making an application

The act specifies how an application must be made. The application must state:

That it is an application to work flexibly under section 80F of the Employment Rights Act 1996;
specify the change applied for and the date on which it is proposed the change should become effective;
explain what effect, if any, the employee thinks making the change applied for would have on his employer and how, in his opinion, any such effect might be dealt with, and
explain how the employee meets, in respect of the child concerned, the conditions (see qualifyiong conditions above).

Applications must be made at least 14 days before the child’s sixth or eighteenth birthday, if disabled.

You are only permitted to make one application every year.

Employers responsibilities

Employers must arrange a meeting to discuss the application within 28 days of receiving the application. They then have 14 days from the meeting to notify the decision. The application can only be refused if one or more of the following apply:

· the burden of additional costs,
· detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand,
inability to re-organise 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, and
such other grounds as the Secretary of State may specify by regulations.
Unsuccessful applications
Remember the law only gives employees the right to ask for flexible working, not the right to receive it. If, however, an unsuccessfukl application is made you have the right to appeal against it. Appeals have to be made within 14 days of receiving a negative decision, setting out the grounds for appeal. Once this is received employers have 14 days to organise a meeting. Once the meeting is held to discuss the appeal employers have 14 days to issue a decision. Decisions on appeals that are unsuccessful have to include the employers reasons and a sufficient explanation as to why the appeal was unsuccessful.

Unsuccessful applications are challengable at Employment Tribunals.