requested part time hours

[Bozier]

Hi, I have submitted a request to reduce my working hours from five days to four.

My boss has rejected this request due to one other person in our department being part time (they work 2.5 days a week). And the boss does not want any more than 10% of a department to be part time.

Do I have grounds for appeal based on this?

Oh a few other things I should mention, with my part time hours I would still be in the office on the days my part time colleague is not. Also my work has not covered my maternity leave with a temp, my work was passed to my manager and supervisor to cover.

Any advice on where I stand would be greatly appreciated.

I have no personal knowledge of this and hopefully someone will come along with a bit more expert info for you, but I'm pretty sure your boss can't just decide s/he doesn't want more than 10% part time as a reason! s/he will need, I think to demonstrate that the business will suffer as a result of you changing your hours. Have you outlined in your proposal the benefits of your reduction and how you feel any negatives will be managed (ie, as it already has while in maternity etc?).

There is a list of acceptable business reasons for declining a flexible working request, and someone else already working part time isn't one of them. An employer has to give details of which of the acceptable ground/s is applicable, and explain why it applies in your circumstances.

here

Check your boss has followed the procedure properly and appeal on the basis of anything he hasn't done properly as well as failure to provide sufficient or reasonable business grounds for refusal.