Advice on Flexible working and boss

[roseyposeysmum]

Hi

I am after some advice.

My daughter starts school in September so I am in the middle of putting together a letter to request flexible working hours. I rang our HR department just to find out how I go about it. They were really good and told me everything I needed to know. I then left to go home.
I have since found out as soon as I left my boss has approached another member of staff and started slating me for requesting flexible hours and that it was unreasonable ? it then turned into a bitching session about how I had booked the week of Christmas off and it was not fair, and why should I be booking all the half terms off (even though he has signed the form to say I can have them). I am a single mum who is literally raising my daughter without a single bit of help from her father so have to plan ages in advance. The other girl who works in the office with me does not have kids and has no issue with me having time off, as she would never take time off while it is half term and has said this to both me and my boss.
Unfortunately for him he has said all of this to a member of staff who came straight to me and told me what he was saying as they thought it was disgusting. My boss is one of those men who is only a manager because he has been at the company 30 plus years. He gossips, slates and discusses private and confidential things about his staff all of the time, and got into a lot of trouble earlier this year because he did the same thing to another member of staff.
I want to go to HR and mention this as I feel that he will now be difficult when I do hand in my letter for flexible working, I am also fed up of listening to him gossiping and pulling people who work damn hard for him to pieces.
I am not very good at doing this kind of thing and would appreciate any advice or help. Or even just somebody to say actually he should not be doing this.

Thanks very much

Hiya - I've just written a long response to another poster about flexible working and some of my advice and links to webpages may be of help to you. It's here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/employment_issues/1492320-Please-help-appeal-hearing-for-flex-working-this-week

I wouldnt go to HR on the basis of 'someone said to you that he said' unless you have pretty good evidence. I doube that the other person would back you up if this is the kind of boss you have. she is more likely to be thinking of herself.

however you could mention in your letter to HR that you dont feel he will be particularly responsive to your plans, with any evidence you have, but only if it is concrete.

I don't know, I would back someone up if I had heard it first hand and they hadn't. Then again I have a very good relationship with my HR dept (HR Advisor is a close friend) and so I guess this sheds a new light on things. I would ask the person who overheard whether they would be willing to go to HR together and if so then go to advice (not to report) but for advice, i.e. my manager has said this and as you know I am about to put in this request, what is my best approach. That way you are giving HR the heads up that this chap is a devious little weasel who clearly has no life (we have a chat like him at my work). What is good for you is that he is already on their radar and they know what he is like.

Please don't take my advise though as it could go t*s up. You could always just put in your application and wait and see what happens. However if he gets funny about it then I suspect his counter argument won't have a leg to stand on, he'll probably not follow procedure and won't back his side up properly. Is there any chance that he just likes to moan and slag people off and will then approve your application?