flexible working request refused - how common is this and what's the usual outcome?

[Littleknight]

I'm a teacher, have a 3mth old baby and have just received a letter refusing my request to work part time. Thanks for that just before xmas!! I've spoken to my union on the phone and will be having a meeting soon with my local union rep.
I was wondering what other peoples' experiences of this situation have been.
thanks

I think it is quite common in teaching, the cases that I know have when people have been given their requests have required union involvement and a run of tense meetings.

Was it a formal or informal request?

Your employer should have a policy on this but there is a statutory procedrure. You will have the right to appeal this decision.

What business reasons did they give for refusing the request?
Have a read of this:

www.personneltoday.com/articles/2007/06/12/40996/legal-q.html

What was the request for? Do you teach senior or primary school children?

Under flexible working legislation, the refusal has to be for good business reasons. Basically, if the request was reaosnable and they're just trying it on, the union often seem to sort it out at appeal, but if the request was quite extreme (e.g. 2 days a week), it often stays as a no I'm afraid.

I teach in a primary school. It was an informal request (I think!) I asked for 2 and a half days.
Reasons given were: no current job shares and no money in budget for extra staff in a particular area e.g. SEN. Another member of staff who is on maternity leave has been given 2 and a half days job share - she made her request before me and has filled the job share that was already existing.
Employing me part time would mean having to employ another part time teacher to job share with. Is this a valid reason to refuse me?

If it costs the school extra money, I would say so tbh. THat of course would need to be offset against them perhaps having to employ someone else if you leave.

My request was refused that was despite discussing it in detail prior to submission and getting verbal agreement that it would be accepted. Instead I was told if I persisted I would get nothing. I had asked to do the same hours as usual but one day a week from home (I have full access to all office systems from home). In the end I had to cut down to 4.5 days spread over 5 to cover before and after school club. That helps as the club is far cheaper than the CM was but of course I've dropped salary. My workload remains the same unfortunately.

They have a good case for refusing based on budget but your drop in days would mean a drop in your pay, the extra cost for the school would be covered on an additional person doing the other days that you are not and therefore no extra cost. The post is one role - whether this is done by one or two people may be seen as irrelevant and unreasonable by an ET if you took it that far. However if the recruitment costs for the extra person are high then they may have a good reason to decline the request. also make sure they are following their policy and procedure.

i agree with twinkleandpearls that you could ask them about their current recruitment costs to give you an idea of what amounts they are talking about.

If you do not get the change would you be forced to leave? ultimately they would have to replace someone for the whole 5 days.

I would say asking fot 2.5 days isnt unreasonable. I think itsmore likely to be approved if the 2 days are full days as opposed to 5 half days.

Will is it cost them extra money to employ another part time teacher to job share with you? Do they have overlap (e.g other person working three days?). Are there other costs?

What would the costs be re SEN?

TBH, cost is a very relevant factor, especially with schools where budgets are tight.

Not wanting to set up another job share isn't necessarily a reason in itself, but it could be in conjunction with cost. Or it could be that another job share would simply make things too complex (for example, most schools can only manage a certain number within a year group just from the logistics of it).

Thanks for your comments.
I'm going to be meeting with my union rep in Jan so will have to wait and see what happens after that.

this is a late post i know, but i thought i would share my experience of 'modern flexible employment' although i do hope your experience is far more productive than mine.
i worked for the council in my area for years, and having put my child into nursery -didnt request flexible working until he was due to go to school. i took advise from the .gov site and cit/ad when my request was refused, and was made formal. i was advised that mine was an unusual case, (i was a female in a mainly male environment) but that most refusals if appealed and fought for are won as can be found to be based on bias and prejudice. the thing is, i never realised that there was such a wall where childcare is concerned. in my instance, it was plain that they had used the gov. site and repeated the main reason for refusal which was that if they allowed me to change my hours 'it would be detrimental to the business'. it absolutely wouldnt, but the distressing hoops i would need to go through to appeal without a guarantee was unreal. the truth was i only had weeks before my child went to school and had i known i would be treated like that i would have started the process the year before. i had to cut my losses

i was hugely upset and it will take a long time to get over my annoyance at being pressured to get any part time work work work now... when i had a perfectly good full time job that i had to give up!!

i think this treatment is common.... too common and if there was a site where you could rate parent unfriendly employers... i would be glad to log mine!!

My experience is that I have been one of the "baddies" that has refused a fw request, as it was simply not possible to provide a job share around the hours requested. We had a good business case and offered an alternative, which the applicant refused.

i've had to decide on 4 fw requests. 2 I allowed and 2 I rejected but in both cases suggested alternative arrangements which were accepted by the employee. I appreciate that it can be hard for employees when their plans are not accepted but I feel I have to balance the impact on our other employees and it's just not fair to allow requests which make life harder for anyone else. I think it can sometimes be difficult for individuals to view this completely objectively - totally understandably they are focused on what works for them.