The employee's contract may permit him (or her) to make such a request, and regulate the basis for dealing with it. Even if the contract contains no such provision, however, such requests must be considered carefully for a number of reasons, including:
- The risk of a disability discrimination claim.
- The possibility that the employee is entitled to ask to work flexibly because he (or she) has or expects to have responsibility for bringing up a child under the age of six (or 18 if disabled), or because he or she has responsibility for an adult needing care. This entitlement, extended from 1 October 2007 to adopters of children from other countries (ie not placed by a UK adoption agency), and to private foster carers, is subject to other qualifying factors, including:
1) The employee must be making the application to enable him (or her) to care for the child or adult needing care.
2) The employee must have made no other application in the preceding 12 months.
Flexible working might include working for some or all of the time from home.
It is up to the employee to come up with sensible suggestions as to how the new system might work, and to give them to you in writing. You must then respond by arranging a meeting within 28 days to consider the request. Within 14 days of the meeting you must write either to agree a new work pattern or to refuse the request. You cannot refuse, however, unless there is a clear business reason for doing so, for instance:
- The burden of additional costs.
- Difficulties in meeting customer demand.
- An inability to reorganise work amongst other employees, or recruit additional ones to cover;
- A detrimental effect on quality or performance.
- Insufficient work for the employee when he or she is available for work;
- Planned structural changes.
If you do refuse, you must give your reasons in writing, dating the letter and giving details of your appeals procedure. If the employee is going to appeal, he must do so in writing within 14 days, and you must then arrange another meeting within 14 days of receiving this letter. You must write, giving details of the outcome of the appeal, within 14 days of this meeting.
If you have refused again, it is open to the employee to take further steps, for example, by involving ACAS or another mediator, or - if your procedure was incorrect, or your decision based on incorrect facts - by going to an Employment Tribunal. If the Employment Tribunal finds against you, you will have to reconsider the application, and may have to pay compensation of up to £2,480 - so it obviously pays to get it right first time round.
You are not at present obliged to consider home working for other employees, but it might make sense to do so, particularly if there are good reasons for the request (such as care of elderly dependants). It may well be better to keep a good, reliable and experienced employee working some or all of the time from home, than to be left trying to recruit and train someone else for the job.
