Can I be refused the same amount of hours?

[lauren6283]

I'm having a lot of trouble trying to sort out a return to work. I've had a meeting today and basically I've requested a change to my contracted hours, but not to the amount. My manager says he cannot give me the same amount of hours as he does not have them available.
I have been told I can change to another part of the business and get two more hours contracted but still less than I had before maternity leave.
Can they do this? I know I'm entitled to what I had before but if I want to change the days can they refuse to give me the same amount of hours?
I don't think he has a good reason to tell me he can't give me them as I was never replaced and two people have left while I've been off work. Also I work for a HUGE company who employ a couple of hundred people in that branch alone.
Can anyone help?

A company needs a business reason to turn down a flexible working request. Not having the hours available may be valid but it's hard to say without knowing more. Of your office was open 8 hours a day and you were trying to do 4 ten hour days instead of five 8 hour days, then he might have a business reason!

But surely if I'm entitled to go back to the same as before then they must have the hours available? Just because I want to condense them and change the days surely that shouldn't mean I have to lose out? It's just so complicated and I think employers get away with murder because of that!

I have personal rather than professional experience of flexible working requests, so flowery (for eg) would be more knowledgeable.

It's also hard with the information given to say. In my example above, if the office was being kept open especially for you to undertake your condensed hours, then there might be reasons (security costs etc) why that wasn't viable. Or if lots of other people would get a less favourable shift pattern because of your request.

Did you make a written request and get a written decline? Did you get any level of detail about why it was a no?

You are entitled to go back on no less favourable terms, so no, they can't reduce your hours.
However, if you want to change the days, that would constitute a flexible working request, so they could say yes, but with reduced hours, iykwim.
There could be a business reason for needing you to be in a certain number of hours each day, rather than fewer longer days - it's difficult to know without knowing more about what you do and what you have asked for.

Basically I'm already part time over 4 days and I want to condense the hours into three days, two of them are days I already do, and one isn't.

So I can have two days, but not the third day that I'm available, but I'm actually already contracted for that third day under my old contract. I've been told this doesn't apply as I'm requesting a change, but I'm not requesting a change to the amount. And how can the hours not be available on that particular day when if I had said I wanted to stay on my previous contract I would have had hours on that day.

Am I making myself clear? Sorry I'm just so annoyed I feel like I'm being pushed out of my job :-(

So, let's say...

You currently work 6 hours a day Monday to Thursday

You want to work 8 hours a day on Monday, Thursday and Friday

The company says you can work 8 hours on Monday and Friday but not on Thursday?

If this example is vaguely right, can you do 8 hours on Monday and Friday as you want , and 6 hours on Thursday as they want? So you are doing two fewer hours overall but that's better than losing a whole day?

Did they say why they'd said no? If my scenario is vaguely right, they may have someone else who does a few hours on the day they don't want to give you and that it would be unfair to that employee to change their shift (maybe they too have caring responsibilities).