Winckworth Sherwood partner Susan Kelly has commented on the new flexible working rules announced by the government:
“It is important to remember that this will still only be a right to request flexible working, not a right to flexible working. It seems that employers will still be able to turn down such requests for one of the broad-ranging statutory reasons, such as “detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand”, “detrimental effect on performance” or “inability to reorganise work among existing staff”. However, some of the restrictions are to be eased, so that two requests can be made in a 12-month period, instead of only one, and removing the requirement for employees to set out how the effects of their flexible working request might be dealt with by their employer.”
Susan’s comments have appeared in City AM, Reward Strategy, MSN News, and Law360.