Flexible working

[Mumofoneandanotherontheway]

A friend of mine has been having issues at working regarding her shift patterns & they have been very unreasonable & been putting her for majority of the late shifts ( works 5days out of 7 & over the month she’s got approx 2-3 early shifts). Some of her colleagues have got all 5 days as early shifts.
she’s got 3 young kids and has decided to put a application for flexible working, there is some questions on the applications she needs help with if anyone can advise.

1. Impact of new working pattern -
   I think this change in my working pattern will affect the company and my colleagues as follows:

2. Accommodating the new working pattern:
   
   I think the effect on the company and my colleagues can be dealt with as follows:

Does she not need to speak to somebody about the shifts rather than make a flexible working request?

Agree it is not a flexible working request. She needs to ask why she is only getting later shifts. To not work any may be unreasonable though.

I disagree that it's not a flexible working request. She can talk to them about the shifts but if she wants it locked into her contract that she won't do them or will only do x number of them a week then a flex working request will do that

Can't answer the questions though - bit without knowing the job and the team struct

So she’s spoken to her line manager & area manager about why she’s on lates all the time lately & they’ve said 1 staff member has got a flexible request in which is under review (although she’s doing all early’s for quiet a while now & others have just been given all early’s). As this has not got her anywhere she feels like she should put a request in. she’s always been happy to do a mixture of early’s & lates as she doesn’t except all early’s but since they’ve allowed it for one person she feels as though she should request it too as like this they are being very unfair lately.

she works in retail 3-4 staff members in the store (not a very big store & not busy for walk in customers more over the phone/online dealing with customers)

The fact that flexible working has been approved for one person does not mean that it has to be approved for another - the business can refuse a flexible working request if it doesn’t suit business needs and this might be because it’s already been allowed for others and they can’t support any more flexibility.

She needs to think about how her request can be supported within the business e.g. if she’s asking to work all early shifts she needs to explain how the late shifts can be covered so the business isn’t affected.

Flexible working is the right way to go. The statutory right includes requesting flexibility about when you work I.e. requesting an even number of late and early shifts.

Impact of new working pattern - Obvious impacts are some people would have to do more late shifts, think how they will feel about that. If one person has a request to do all early shifts it means everyone else gets to do less. Your request will impact on other colleagues as they will have to do more lates.

Accommodating new working pattern - Suggest that the shifts are reviewed with a starting point that everyone does 50% lates 50% earlies. Talk to the team and find our preferences, some people may want late shifts. What you need to do is find a way to be fair to everyone. The bottom line is you took a job knowing it was shift work it is not unreasonable to expect you to work shifts. Where you may have a case is if you are not getting 50% early shifts.

Thank you for your reply.
I don’t think she wants to be unfair but her managers and being very unfair with her recently and she feels as though this is the best route to go down.

the staff who have all got earlies have requested they be put down for earlies every shift. The manager has listened to their request but when she says anything it doesn’t get considered in a indirect way. She also not to long ago had to attend jury service where instead of a standard 2week trial she was on a 4week trial. When she returned and spoke to the manager about why she’s in on all the lates (1 day in the week business is open later than usual) the manager turned around and said ‘well when was the last time you did one, it was before jury service’. So basically it’s like a pay back! Then her AM said to her in conversation how she should have said she wanted a 2week trial instead of 4week, it’s wasn’t her choice - she was just given 4weeks.

Your update makes the situation clearer.

1. An employer cannot discriminate due to Jury Service www.gov.uk/giving-staff-time-off-jury-service I would contact ACAS for advice.
2. Making a formal flexible working request on the basis of 50:50 split between early and late shifts is actually asking for a fair rota. In your responses to the questions emphasis it is fair for everyone to do 50:50.

Making a formal flexible working request on the basis of 50:50 split between early and late shifts is actually asking for a fair rota. In your responses to the questions emphasis it is fair for everyone to do 50:50.

But be aware that "being fair" isn't a legal requirement, and the employer can turn such a request down for many reasons (which are easy to manufacture if they are motivated). And you will need evidence if you are going to claim discrimination. Not just evidence of what was said, but that the shift allocation is a result of the thing you claim is being used to discriminate.

One other warning - there is a well known strategy for employers to scupper flexible working requests. They simply inform you that they cannot accommodate all your request and counter offer your request. So they might say that you currently do 10 shifts a fortnight, but since you want to work more mornings they can only offer 3 mornings but will then need to cover evenings and the logistics of that mean they are only offering you 3 evenings. So you can have 50/50 - but you have to agree to drop 4 shifts. That is a legitimate legal offer, and you can agree or not, but if you don't they aren't obliged to offer you what you want.

If they really are "gunning for you" as you suggest, then looking elsewhere may be a better option for you. In the end, if they continue to refuse then you can go down the legal route IF you can demonstrate a case (which is hard to do) and by that time the entire relationship has broken down anyway. Which it sounds like it is on the way to already.