Would you raise a grievance about this?

[AuntMabel]

I am still waiting for a decision on my flexible working request which I posted about a couple of weeks ago.

I am really unhappy with the way that the HR Advisor has dealt with the whole thing, and the way he behaved towards me in the rearranged FWR consulation meeting which was held way over the time limits (5 months after my letter was submitted).

The advisor kept talking over me, to a point where I had to request him to stop doing so three times. I was going to stop the meeting if he did it again.

The advisor told me that he had already informed me of several facts I disputed within the meeting prior to leaving on maternity leave, and when I said there was no way I was told what was being implied and asked them if they could back this up in writing he said no.

They've taken away a role I was carrying out prior to ML, and when I asked why I was not given a notice of change telling me this I was told they couldn't contact me whilst on ML. Is this right? He contradicticted himself about 10 seconds later by saying they would've contacted me to let me know at some point before I returned...

There's lots more, but I'm not sure what approach to take with my employer having been mucked about by them so much to date. I don't want to have to deal with this HR Advisor in the future and am quite nervous that he is dealing with my FWR as it stands. I will obviously wait for my FWR response before taking it further.

Have read your previous thread as well. Getting annoyed with the HR person is only human, but what you actually need to do is resolve your issues. A grievance will not really get you very far and will just put people's backs up. They messed up the time limits but from what I can tell you are not going back for another 6 months anyway? That would make their delay fairly 'explainable' even if not strictly in accordance with law - especially if company is in flux due to redundancies. Although you have the right to return on the same 4 day week basis as before (and they should confirm this for you), in reality demanding this may result in you shooting yourself in the foot and getting yourself made redundant on day one of your return. It sounds as if they are offering you an alternative role (ie same job but for longer hours due to reorganisation)? They could argue that there are no suitable part time roles left now, so being in the right legally might not help you in this situation.

TBH it sounds as if you might have a better chance if you change tack. Instead of looking at what you want, why not see if you can look at things from employer's point of view and work with that. If they are being unreasonable then you should document in writing what you think would be reasonable (from an impartial observers' point of view - not just what you want), and go from there. At the moment they have absolutely no 'incentive' to get this all fixed so if you give them easy solutions and explain how this could work, then you might get something acceptable.

Although I sympathise with your problems and am sure they are antagonising you, they could easily go to a tribunal arguing how they have bent over backwards to find you a suitable role and keep dialogue with you even though they are dealing with huge uncertainty and redundancy situations etc etc etc. Not fair, but that is what you are playing against.

What Squiffy said. I can't see how bringing a grievance mid-process is going to help you. Once you've had the result of your FWR, if you want to appeal the decision on the grounds that the procedure wasn't followed or whatever, you can do so, but surely wait until then before complaining about the process formally?

I think I've been misunderstood. I don't want to raise a grievance now, I just wonder if I have grounds to do so in the future?

They have admitted they've not followed the procedure correctly already in writing.

I have no intention of giving them more reason than they seem to think they have to make the process as difficult as possible, and as I said in my OP I will obviously wait for my FWR response before taking any further steps. I just wonder, if they say yes (hypothetically speaking) if I should just take all their mistakes and misinformation and let it go because I've got the result I want, or whether I should take it further then, and only then.

I'm already prepared for an appeal, just not sure what to do if they actually agreed it.

Sorry for misunderstanding - it sounded as though you were actively contemplating a grievance regardless of the outcome.

Obviously if your request gets refused, it would be an appeal you'd need to take forward in order to point out procedural errors and get it reconsidered.

If it gets agreed, then obviously you don't have the appeal mechanism to use. What would you be hoping to achieve by raising a formal grievance if your request is agreed? What outcome would you be looking for? Seems a bit drastic based purely on what you've said - they've already acknowledged they've made procedural errors so they are not denying doing anything wrong. What reponse would you like to see to a grievance?

What are you requesting and what are their reasons for refusing?

Sorry it's taken me a while to come back to this, have been under the weather.

I guess I'm fed up of the FWR process being cocked up and made so difficult for me; and it seems to be just me who has had an issue, I know colleagues who have had requests approved without issue, all of whom can't believe the trouble I am having to go through with this. I have requested to reduce my hours by one day per week, but they can't do without me apparently.

I don't know if it's because of my particular bosses and their archaic management ethics (one of said bosses once refused to request a pay review for me despite me proving a very valid case for one, on the basis that I was pregnant and would be taking ML so "there's no way they would consider a pay rise until you're back". Fair dos maybe some would say, but don't say it to my face!) this whole situation has been handled piss-poorly from start to...well I can't say finish because it's not over yet. It's like pulling teeth.

I have issue with the HR person who clearly has not done their job sufficiently, implying that what I heard them say in the previous meeting was not said and adding further things I know the person has not told me - I'm not stupid, when I asked them if they could back up their claims in writing I was spoken over. I do not want to have to deal with this member of staff in relation to my personnel issues in the future. I am so stressed because of the way they have behaved towards me, right now I don't really know if I want to go back to be honest.