Working Hours | Flexible Working | Time Off | Future Legislation

Rights to Request Flexible Working

The right to request flexible working will be extended to parents of children aged up to 16, as the government accepted the proposals of a review by Imelda Walsh, Sainsbury’s HR director.

Speaking as her review was published, Walsh said that personally she was in favour of flexible working being open to all, but acknowledged that would have been “a step too far” and that many employers were nervous on the issue.

Walsh said it was correct for the law to remain as a right to request only, as anything more would “change the whole dialogue”.

According to Employment relations minister Pat McFadden, “If a business wants to operate over and above this they can do so, but in terms of the law we are recognising that some people at work have particular responsibilities.”

The report also urges the government to tackle the issue of flexible working being overly associated with women. Research shows men are more than twice as likely as women to be turned down in their request to work flexibly.

The current law gives the right to parents with children under the age of six, disabled children under 18 and carers of adults. The law is expected to be extended in April 2009.

Agency Workers

The Government has agreed a deal between unions and employers that will see agency workers in the UK receive equal treatment after 12 weeks employment.

The Government believes this deal can pave the way to reaching agreement in Europe on an agency workers directive that secures this flexibility for the UK.

Agreement has been reached on the following points.

(a) After 12 weeks in a given job there will be an entitlement to equal treatment.

(b) Equal treatment will be defined to mean at least the basic working and employment conditions that would apply to the workers concerned if they had been recruited directly by that undertaking to occupy the same job. It will not cover occupational social security schemes.

(c) The Government will consult the social partners regarding the implementation of the Directive more generally, in particular:

(i) mechanisms for resolving disputes regarding the definition of equal treatment and compliance with the new rules that avoid undue delays for workers and unnecessary administrative burdens for business;

(ii) appropriate arrangements to enable the two sides of industry and also public services to reach appropriate agreements on the treatment of agency workers, while respecting the overall protection of agency workers; and

(iii) appropriate anti-avoidance measures, in particular relating to the treatment of repeat contracts for the same worker and the position of workers with permanent contracts of employment with agencies who continue to be paid between assignments.

(d) The new arrangements will be reviewed at an appropriate point in the light of experience.

The Government will now engage with its European partners to seek agreement on the terms of the Agency Workers Directive that will enable this agreement to be brought into legal effect in the United Kingdom.

The Government hopes that EU agreement will be obtained in time for the necessary UK implementing legislation to be introduced in the next parliamentary session.

Working Hours | Flexible Working | Time Off | Future Legislation