When employers reject post-maternity leave flexible working requests
When can an employer turn down an employee's request for flexible working on her return from maternity leave? In two recent tribunal decisions, employers were able to show that the potential disruption to the business justified their rejection of a new mother's flexible working request.
- New mother's rejected homeworking request handled in a "reasonable manner" In Whiteman v CPS Interiors Ltd and others, the employment tribunal held that the employer properly handled a new mother's rejected flexible working request to work from home primarily in the evenings.
- Employer successfully defends policy that administrative staff work full time In Smith v Gleacher Shacklock LLP, the employment tribunal held that it was not indirect sex discrimination for a small investment banking firm to require a single-parent mother to work full time as an executive secretary.