Wfh issue - new director

[Hattieandcake]

New director doesn’t want anyone working from home. There is nothing in the contract to say that we can however lots have obviously with recent changes in society. Is it worth pursing a request via OH due to health issues? These are physical and MH. I am concerned they may say not fit for the role as has to be in office ( it doesn’t! ).

Have you tried speaking to the new director as to the reasons why?

What do your colleagues think?

Unless this director has something in writing for everyones contracts, I'd tell him to do one.

Failing that, grievance for harassment (as in harassing you to change your employment T&Cs without proper consultation and/or following legal procedure to do so).

Eh? The OP is the one wanting to change their contract, which says their place of work is in the office. The director is wanting to enforce the contract, not change it.

Telling your employer to "do one" is unlikely to lead to getting your own way.

OP, if there's no way to request informally then the only solution is to request formally. They'll need to state why the adjustment can't be accommodated. But at the end of the day, your employer has the right to insist that you work from the location you signed up to when you started the job.

If it’s in your contract that you are office based, he can enforce it. You can ask but they have every right to say no.

There is no T&C that says they can WFH and what harassment?

There is no T&C that says the OP cannot WFH...so....

Most contracts will state a physical office location as a place of work. That is a contractual obligation to be physically present in the office.

do you have and hr department at your work you can talk to?

That's not how contracts work, they don't list all the things you can't do.

The contract won't have a term saying "no pissing on the floor", do you think that means everyone who works there can do it and say oh but it's not in the T&C's? 🙄

We can wait for the OP to confirm whether their contract specifically denotes a location as their default place of work.

No need for a bitchfest back-n-forth until they confirm what their contract does/not say.

There is nothing in the contract to say that we can

The new manager is probably right. Have you spoken to HR? Are you in a union?

Maybe time to start looking for a new job.

I contacted my union over the weekend. Will email HR today but they usually support directors.

contract pre dates Covid - Says office.

You will probably have to suck it up, or start looking for a new job.

Then all you can do is ask. You can’t force it if the office is the specified workplace in the contract. They have to review a request for reasonable adjustments and flexible working etc but if they’ve reasons to say no, then they can say no.

If it says office with no mention of hybrid then the office is your place of work. Who allowed it before? Was there any formal agreement for how much you could work from home?

How long has the work from home been in effect?
Not all T&C are in writing
If it has been since 2019 you could argue the contract changed by mutual agreement.

Is the change of going back to the office across all work roles or has there been other pushback?

I would be looking for another job if it doesn’t suit.

If the new director is determined to get everyone back into the office, then I doubt he'll grant any requests without a rock solid doctor's note, and then it might only be one or two days a week.

My last contract clearly stated remote, but the CEO 'changed his mind' (he'd just moved into central London) and wanted everyone to sign new contracts last August.

I refused because I had school run so he had to pay me off. Now I work in an office 10 minutes from home.

It might be time to look for a new job.

If they want you back they will almost certainly get their way in the end
Are your health issues documented
Probably best looking for another job

I have worked in HR for many years now, and while each company does have differences, my advice would be to do this as collaboratively and informally as possible. Be willing to compromise and state your case for being a BETTER employer from home with hybrid working.

The poster who said it’s harassment might not be wrong, under the quality act depending on your disabilities they could be forced to make REASONABLE adjustments. But this doesn’t automatically mean you can work from home.

The poster who said it’s harassment might not be wrong, under the quality act depending on your disabilities they could be forced to make REASONABLE adjustments. But this doesn’t automatically mean you can work from home.

No, they are definitely wrong. Harassment is entirely separate to the duty to make reasonable adjustments.

And I doubt that any request for adjustments will result in permanent working from home. At my job, we just make any adjustments needed in the office. We have had a couple of people seek to work from home exclusively due to ADHD in one case and long COVID in another, but their productivity was horrendously low when working from home and it would not have been an appropriate adjustment.

I have an HR Masters with a specialism in employment law.

I wouldn’t be so bold as to say someone was ‘wrong’ without knowing the specifics. It COULD be harassment. See attachment.

without knowing the case it’s impossible to say.

Employment law is quite complicated, it's not as simple as "in contract" or not.

"Custom and practice", i.e. if something has been accepted practice in an organisation for a long time, can become part of your contract even if it's not written down.

I would recommend talking to your union and to acas

@Hattieandcake RTO is becoming quite common. Perhaps your director would respond well to being asked if you can work at home on a particular day for a particular reason. So it isn't "every Monday", it is as and when you need to. If they are new, maybe they want to get to know you and feel the office environment is the best place to do so but once they trust you it won't be a major problem.

I'm a solicitor who used to specialise in discrimination cases (although I work in a different area now) so I feel I can be that bold.

There's nothing in OP's post to suggest that her employer has done anything at all that could be classed as harassment.

The Google summary that you attach is much too simplistic - the employer needs to have engaged in conduct relating to a protected characteristic (which would be disability in the OP's case if any conditions OP has meet the definition in the Equality Act) which has the effect of violating OP's dignity or creating an intimidating, humiliating, hostile, degrading or offensive environment

If OP's boss has said to OP "You're making up medical conditions because you are lazy and don't want to come back into the office" then maybe. But there's nothing in OP's post to suggest that they have done anything other than announce that they are going to ask staff to return to the office.

OP can pursue adjustments if she likes but as above I doubt she'll get far if she's looking for exclusive permanent working from home, and I maintain that talk of harassment on the facts we have is just plain silly.

Reasonable adjustments are put in place providing the organisation can operationally support them.

Without knowing your physical and MH issues and the impact they have on you, it is difficult to say whether OH would recommend you work entirely from home. However, if exceptions to general expectations are needed, it is becoming increasingly common that they should be underpinned by advice from Occupational Health. This helps in relation to consistency.

Could you reach a compromise and be prepared to come in for, say, three days a week, building up over a month? You should also be prepared for OH to explore with you whether you are engaging with optimal treatment for your health conditions.

Consider the approach to someone who suffers significant pain despite taking regular and optimal pain relief and engaging with daily pilates/regular physio compared to someone who doesn't believe in taking painkillers or anti-depressant. The staff member has a responsibility also to ensure they are as fit as possible to fulfil the expectations of their role.