Flexible working: do employers have to follow procedure?

[bran]

I applied to work flexibly when I return from adoption leave and have had my request turned down.

I was expecting them to follow the procedure outlined on the \link{http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/individual/flexible-pl516.htm\DTI} website, in short that they would receive my application and then have a meeting with me to discuss options before making their decision. So on my initial request to them I put my ideal working pattern, expecting to make a few compromises at the meeting and having the final proposed working pattern somewhere between my ideal and my original working pattern. But they didn't invite me to a meeting, or discuss anything with me they just turned it down, and they also haven't given me details of their appeals procedure.

So is the procedure on the DTI website compulsory or just an optional guideline?

I've just read through this bran. I have worked in this area, but not recently so I don't have a working knowledge of the new employment legislation, but I would certainly interpret it as placing a legal obligation on companies to follow the procedure - it doesn't appear to me to be optional. Towards the end it says that you can go to a tribunal or ACAS if the procedure hasn't been followed properly which would suggest that in your case your company hasn't fulfilled their obligations. It is always best in these kind of situations to try and negotiate with your employers - personally I would contact your human resources department if it's a big company, or your line manager if not, and ask very nicely why the DTI procedure hasn't been followed and if they can explain to you why your company is exempt from it? If they can't answer you to your satisfaction try ACAS for advice or your local CAB. A lot of the CAB information system can be found online at adviceguide.org.uk

Thanks for that link to the CAB SD, I had a look and it does state quite clearly that there is a set procedure that must be followed and links back to the same DTI site for info.

I was furious when I got their letter, but have now calmed down quite a bit and I agree with you that a softly, softly approach would be a good start, although I'm not terribly good at that, my usual style is much more bull in china shop.

It's a complicated situation at work, the company was bought by a Hong Kong base company and we were merged with two other UK companies just before I left on leave and most of the higher level mangement had already been let go. My new director is a techy/geeky lives to work type, and the HR person (who I've know for ages) was really quite junior until the merger, so it's quite possible that they genuinely don't know what they're doing in this area.

I will send an email that gently enquires about the procedure they followed, and perhaps include a link to the DTI website to show what I was expecting.