Looking for Advice – Flexible Working Rejected, Breastfeeding Needs Ignored, Felt Forced to Resign

[MyWiseGoldGuide]

Hi all,
I’d really appreciate some guidance or if anyone’s been through something similar — particularly with employers mishandling flexible working and return-to-work support after maternity leave.
Here’s what happened to me:

1. Flexible Working Mishandled and Rejected

I submitted a formal flexible working request to reduce my hours temporarily due to extreme stress and burnout. About 3 weeks after my request I resigned, I was completely overwhelmed after multiple stressful meetings about my role and workload. A few days later, after some space and reflection, I asked to reverse the resignation. We had a meeting about my flexible working request and it was formally rejected, with the reasoning that my manager (who works a 4-day week) would become overworked if I reduced my hours, even though she returned from maternity leave after me and was granted flexible working. During that call, the CEO made a comment implying they'd already been “very flexible” with me and asked “don’t you think so?” in a condescending tone. It felt dismissive, like I was being unreasonable for even asking.

No formal written response has ever been sent over.

1. No Support for Breastfeeding

When I returned to work 5 months after my son was born I was still breastfeeding and told them in advance that I’d need a clean, private place to express milk if they wanted me in the office. I was pressured to return anyway, with no suitable space provided, I ended up pumping in a cramped shared office space with glass doors and no fridge. It was really distressing and embarrassing. They also implied that any promotion or salary progression would depend on being in the office more, which wasn’t realistic for me given my ongoing needs and home situation.

1. Mental Health Ignored

I had a difficult pregnancy (daily hospital visits in the final weeks), and after the birth, I struggled to bond with my baby and looking back, I believe I was suffering from postnatal depression. No one at work ever checked in on me. I had to plan and manage my own phased return without support, and the emotional toll was huge. No one asked how I was doing, physically or mentally, during or after my return.

1. Felt Forced to Resign

Between the rejection of my flexible working request, the breastfeeding situation, and lack of wellbeing support, I reached breaking point. I ended up resigning again, this time for good, because I just couldn’t continue in that environment.

I’m exploring whether I might have grounds for:

• Breach of flexible working procedure
• Constructive dismissal (resignation under pressure/lack of support)
• Sex discrimination or indirect discrimination (breastfeeding needs not accommodated)
• Failure to make reasonable adjustments (related to mental health/postnatal depression)

Would love to hear if anyone has been through something similar, especially if you went through ACAS or legal channels. Was it worth pursuing? What evidence did you need? Was your word enough, or did you need emails/records? Thanks in advance for reading and sharing anything you can, this has all taken a real toll.

Flexible working is a request then can deny it. Seems complicated with you resigning then changing your mind. I think best to speak to ACAS or Pregnant then screwed. You would need evidence so if you don’t have that I’ll be cautious about pursing it.

In terms of breast feeding there isn’t any specific legal requirements to provide a room to breastfed but employers must meet H&S obligations, under the H&S work act 1974, so look up that. ACAS code of practice recommend providing an area but it’s only a recommendation, a fridge should also be provided if possible. So definitely research that.

Yes unfortunately you have a right to request flexible working but they can deny it baised on business need. There is no guarantee that they have to provide flexible working.

The breastfeeding is a separate issue and you should look into that.

The key elements are dates as you need to lodge a claim within the set time limits.

Speak to ACAS and Pregnant Then Screwed https://pregnantthenscrewed.com

Breastfeeding - potentially you have a claim https://www.hse.gov.uk/mothers/employer/rest-breastfeeding-at-work.htm

Flexible working - as pp said it is a right to request not a right to have. A key question is how did your manager get part time if they applied after you.

It was obviously a very tough time for you, and you’ve got quite a list of things you understandably found difficult.

Your employer has responsibilities in some of these areas, but in some aspects I think you’re muddling up what might be considered nice and what their legal obligations are. As a general rule, they don’t need to make you happy and like working their, they just need to not actively discriminate or break any other legislation.

Flexible working.

You have a right to request. That’s not a requirement for them to give it to you. If other people in the team already have altered work patterns and there isn’t capacity for any further adjustments then that’s reasonable grounds for them to reject. If the reasons were health related then you may have had more protection if you went down the fit note route. The requirements say that they get two months to consider your formal request, so not responding in three weeks isn’t a short coming on their part.

If your manager formally applied for flexible working after you did, and her request was approved and yours was rejected then that would be difficult to justify as reasonable and business demand related - but may be possible depending on the exact roles. If your manager applied sooner then their request should have been considered before yours.

It sounds like you resigned fully before the two month time frame was up, in which case they have no reason to give you a formal response.

Breastfeeding.

The HSE guidance is clear. There’s a lot that nice employers will do, but the minimum requirements are actually very low, and are mainly met by keeping you away from hazardous chemicals. A room with blinds and a do not disturb notice stuck to the door would more than meet their obligations, as would a store cupboard in a safe area with a chair in it. ‘Clean’ here means Wetherspoons standards half way through a Saturday night, not health centre clean. They are not obliged to change your working arrangements to accommodate breastfeeding unless your work involves activities that are hazardous (eg sone chemicals). Not agreeing to a reasonable adjustment to work arrangements might be considered discrimination, but reasonable would be that you usually have an 8 hour day at your work place with a 45 minute lunch and the adjustment is one 30 min break and one 15 minute break so can pump twice. Or two 30 min breaks and finishing 15 minutes later. It’s not a wholesale change to your work arrangements.

Mental health ignored / return to work not managed.

You say looking back, you think you had post natal depression. That sounds like you didn’t realise at the time, and didn’t seek medical advice or a fit note. There’s no standard requirement for employers to carry out a return to work assessment or phased return for a healthy person returning from Mat Leave. It’s a bit different if returning from sick leave, or if the person is under a fit note. If you presented as a standard return after Mat Leave then that occupational health side you seem to think should have happened wouldn’t apply.

Forced to resign.

It sounds like your work arrangements really weren’t compatible with your needs and preferences after maternity leave. This might have been exacerbated by undiagnosed health issues. It’s a stretch to get from there to constructive dismissal.

Talk to ACAS. Understand the timelines. Understand a bit more about their actual obligations rather than what would be considered best practise (there’s a gulf between the two). And most importantly, get support with your mental health.

In your own description, the primary cause given for your resignation is feeling overwhelmed, not discrimination. That and the fact that you resigned before your flexible working request had been reviewed and responded to, suggest that your employer has done nothing wrong.

For constructive dismissal you need to show the employer’s actions were such that there was no other action you could have take Except resign. You could have raised a Grievance about the way they handled your return to work. You could have asked your GP to sign you off sick while that process was going on. The fact that you resigned without exploring all the avenues available to you means it would be difficult to sustain a constructive dismissal claim.

Others have dealt with the breastfeeding issue.

In any event, what exactly do you want to achieve? Do you really want to go back to work for this employer? Have they paid you everything they are required (pay? Holiday pay?). If you pursue any legal action it could take over a year to get in front of a Tribunal - do you really want this hanging over your head for that long? To what end?

The harsh reality is that many employers treat many employees badly (as you have been) but that doesn’t necessarily equate to having a legal case. You might feel that it is better to use your time and energy to get well and look for another job.