Reduced hours refused

[CodsWallopPie]

Hello, I'm posting on behalf of my Sister In Law who is coming to the end of her maternity leave and has requested that her hours are dropped to part time (from 32 hours) Her boss has refused on the grounds that she is a supervisor so needs to be available and flexible.
Another member of staff requested the same a while back and was grnated it, though admittedly she is not a supervisor. Is this reasonable grounds for refusal? Is there anything my SIL can do? Thanks.
ps she is not in a union.

They need to prove a business need for refusing. It's possible that she has grounds to prove that the business would be ok with her part time, it's hard to say without knowing the company and her exact role. Can she show them how it would be feasible?

Its a £land type shop and her role is Supervisor. I do not think they took anyone extra on to take over her role while she has been off (could be wrong though) Can I ask for an example of how she could prove it? Like a rework of the rota?? (Sorry I've not been employed for over 10 years so I'm useless at this)

Aww crap namechange fail lol

I did a similar role for a different retailer. I also dealt with a few flexible working requests as well. I would say that her job can be done part time with another part time supervisor employed as well. She could suggest this to them and it's on them to prove that this wouldn't work (I don't see why it wouldn't for the role she does).