Wfh flexible working and mandatory meetings

[Sheldonsheher]

If you have a non wfh contract originally.
However, you have an agreed flexible working agreement and you live 500 miles away.
Can work suddenly make meetings in person mandatory, if they were previously on teams, can be done on teams but your line manager says they want it for the woolly reason of encouraging face to face collaboration. However they can be done on line. No real benefit to go in person. What is the legal position because these are meetings that are considered mandatory in my field. Is this discrimination against remote workers?

Well, it is set in stone if it is formally and clearly worked into your contract. Is it, or isn't it?

(Of course, contracts can be changed by the employer, but there is an official process they have to go through)

There are no schemes with a retirement age of 60 anymore I am afraid it's either 65 or linked to state pension age

You are not correct!

Incorrect.

You say that the union can’t do anything. Have you already asked for advice and what did they say?

What scheme then , classic proportion possibly but that was stopped along time ago

In your shoes I’d sort some childcare, even if it cost a lot, to do the six times a year as it’d be much harder to find something comparable where you are or remotely.

They didn’t ‘move the goalposts’ you took a massive risk that you’d be able to work for this employer remotely indefinitely and have been lucky so far.

@Sheldonsheher I think you and I may work closely IRL. I can see you have changed some details here but fundamentally this is exactly the situation that is happening with someone in my workplace so I assume it’s you.

I don’t want to out you or for you to out me but I may be able to give you some specific advice on how to manage this- if you want it.

If you're civil service, could you get a transfer to a site closer to home?

I hope not I’m trying to keep it vague!

Are you MHW?

What is MHW ?

I was just googling it 🤣, but I think that was supposed to be your initials.

I have DM’d you with advice regardless of whether you are who I think you are, or not!

Thanks Im not your colleague but appreciate your message!

I am equally grateful you’re not in my team!

I am NHS the Mc Cloud judgement has meant that many of us will be able to retire or at least semi retire at 60 ( actually from 55) I think civil service is the same. Although hardly the point here.

NHS is local government not public sector and that is not exactly that what judgement meant

Looks to me like it is all public sector pensions:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nhs-pension-scheme-mccloud-remedy-part-2-proposed-changes-to-scheme-regulations-2023/mccloud-remedy-part-2-proposed-changes-to-nhs-pension-schemes-regulations-2023

But this is a massive derailment.

The judgement impacted all public sector pensions. There are no schemes with a pension age of 55 or 60 anymore

If your pension is a lot in the legacy schemes I think you can still retire on a reduced pension as far as I was advised by a financial advisor.

60, retirement is 68

Incorrect.

Depending on the employer/employment type, people can and do retire much younger than state pension age.

I don't think it is a grey area at all. It depends entirely on what your contract says and you haven't been able to answer that very clearly. Does it say you work from home entirely and that is your base of work? Or does it have a clause that says you may be expected to work from the office if required or something along those lines? When this was all agreed did you receive a contract amendment letter that said you base of work is now home? You use flexible working and home working interchangably but they are two different things.

If your contract fully states you work from home with absolutely 0 reference to coming to the office then great, point this out to your employer. They would have been extremely foolish to put that in contract though so I find it hard to believe it would say that.

If your contract expresses a requirement for some on site working, I don't understand how you think you have a leg to stand on. And no, it is not discrimination. I guess you could take it to court and try, maybe it would be a landmark case.

Someone else mentioned a carers passport. You could explore this as an adjustment with your manager that you don't attend on site meetings due to caring responsibilities.