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Original poster

Industrial action-flexi time

18 replies

bellylaughter · 04/02/2023 10:13

My DH is a civil servant. He was striking last week. The flexi time he had accrued was taken away by his employer as a result. Union says it shouldn’t have been but employer says it’s acceptable. Does anyone have experience of this please. We are in England.

OP posts:

daisychain01 · 04/02/2023 10:50

Have they explained to your DH why they've taken away his flexi hours?

It could be they've done it instead of docking his pay.

LIZS · 04/02/2023 10:54

Is it in lieu of an otherwise unpaid strike day?

forgettingtoremember · 04/02/2023 10:57

I know nothing about the civil service I'm afraid but that does not sound right at all. Is it do he still gets paid for the strike day?

Trez1510 · 04/02/2023 11:05

It doesn't sound correct, but there may be a clue in how much flexitime they removed. Was it his complete accrual, or precisely one day's time?

Shgytfgtf111 · 04/02/2023 11:09

I'm a civil servant, his pay should have been docked or he'll be paid for a flexi day and not therefore on strike.

tommika · 04/02/2023 11:17

I don’t know the specifics of his department (and am also not checking the latest policy in my department) …… but when on strike you are not working, and he and/or his line management mark him as absent on strike

He therefore loses one days pay from salary

Leave is not deducted - if on leave then he’s not on strike
Equally FWH should not be deducted - if flexi hours are taken from his balance then he’s not on strike

On Tuesday if he had 5 hours up then on Thursday he should remain 5 hours up

As he did not work on Wednesday an automated flexi system would deduct Wednesday, but a credit ‘on strike’ entry would be required

There could be a policy to deduct flexi rather than salary, but that would mean handling everyone differently depending on personal circumstances
(What about standard hours workers, or flexi workers in debt of time ?)

The department should have policy documents already on flexi rules and strike action, and also ought to have recently published how to handle strike action

I’m half inclined to think that line management have not understood/have not followed policy

HumourReplacementTherapy · 04/02/2023 11:24

That's not right.
You lose a days pay. If they deduct 7.24 too then you've lost twice over.
Or do you mean he was up on his flexi from accumulated over time and they've set him back to zero (also wrong)

GrasstrackGirl · 04/02/2023 11:27

That's not right, he was on strike not flexi leave.

Quveas · 04/02/2023 12:05

Hmmm... but being a cynic, if a lot of managers did that, then it would look like a lot fewer staff were on strike, wouldn't it?

Original poster

bellylaughter · 04/02/2023 12:56

Thank you for the replies. He’s had communication from his employer to say he will not be getting pay for his strike day so it seems he is getting unpaid but they are also taking his flexi. We’re struggling to get our heads around it. He will be contacting his union again on Monday but we just wanted a sanity check that it didn’t seem right.

OP posts:

StreamingCervix · 04/02/2023 12:59

Is it that the flexi clock hasn’t been updated yet with the strike day, and so the clock system just sees that he was ‘absent’ on a scheduled work day. Once the strike day is on the system and approved, it should go back to the hours he had at the time.

my flexi clock was also in error when I returned to work on Thursday, but it should be rectified when I return on Monday.

Original poster

bellylaughter · 04/02/2023 13:06

Thank you. That’s very helpful. He’s going to check on Monday. His manager implied that he wouldn’t get his flexi back but it might have been a misunderstanding.

OP posts:

Newnamefor2021 · 04/02/2023 13:56

British Gas did that sort of thing, taking away bonuses, flexi time, accrued in lieu time, etc etc. got away with all of it and fired and rehired them. They were striking a massive pay and contact cut. They got away with it and now are laughing at their ridiculous profits.

NeedAHoliday2021 · 04/02/2023 14:00

We were discussing the junior doctor strike at work (nhs) and the general consensus was they’d get the rise but the ts&cs will be controlling, restrictive and awful. Is your dh’s flex time a friendly agreement or in his contract? If it’s a friendly agreement then yes, they can change that.

notsurewherenotsurewhy · 05/02/2023 20:35

NeedAHoliday2021 · 04/02/2023 14:00

IANAL but this smells like it would be illegally) prejudicial treatment of striking workers?

Not the theoretical outcome for doctors (pay rise as part of a package which overall negatively affects Ts&Cs), but in its application to OP's DH?

overnightangel · 06/02/2023 07:54

Civil service here too, I’m in the exact same situation OP and also contesting it, as you say if flexi is taken it’s not a strike! I’m querying it also, please come back with an update when you hear ! 🤞🏻

Original poster

bellylaughter · 06/02/2023 11:09

Sorry to hear you’re experiencing the same @overnightangel. When I have an update I’ll let you know.

OP posts:

overnightangel · 06/02/2023 20:47

I actually emailed my union rep today, I was told I absolutely do not lose flexi time. I was told to put it on my time sheet as a 7 hour 24min credit with the reason as “OTHER”. I told my boss this was why I’d been told and she was fine with that. The reply from my rep was instant along the lines of “yeah this is why we’ve had before, you do this” so hopefully it’s the same with your husband, I hope he gets it sorted too 🤞🏻

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