Employees with children under 6 years old have the right to request flexible working arrangements with their employer. You state that you “went through the company process” so I am assuming that your company has a procedure laid down for dealing with requests for flexible working and I assume these are following statutory guidelines.
An employer can refuse a request for flexible working if they can demonstrate an inability to rearrange work among existing staff; burden of additional costs; detrimental effect on the ability to meet customer demand; inability to recruit additional staff or a detrimental impact on quality or performance. If the employer is declining a request, they must confirm this in writing and give clear business reasons for the rejection together with notification of the appeals process.
You have not said the business reasons why your request for your current role to go part time was turned down so I cannot comment on whether your employer was justified. It might be worth appealing the decision and trying to come up with some suggestions to demonstrate how you working part time would not impact on overall business too significantly. For example, what about job sharing? If you want to appeal you will need to follow the Company procedure laid down. Remember that you would be entitled to be accompanined to this meeting by a colleague which might help your confidence.
Your employer has offered you an alternative part time role albeit at a more junior level and again without more detail it is difficult to make an assessment. However, you have indicated that senior managers are “not keen on part timers” which if proved to be true could provide a case for sex discrimination. This can be very difficult to prove and if you wanted to pursue this you would need to get further advice from a solicitor. However, prior to that you might try talking to ACAS who could help you decide on your next steps.
Good luck.
While every care has been taken in compiling this answer, WorkingMums cannot be held responsible for any errors or ommissions. This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific legal advice.
Post this entry to:
del.icio.us
|
Digg
|
Newsvine
|
Reddit
