The Right to Request Flexible Working: Evidence from Employment Tribunal Judgments

Abstract

This study examines five years of Employment Tribunal judgments on flexible working requests and uses a thematic analysis to identify the issues that have been litigated and to assess how employment tribunals, employees and employers have navigated the Act’s provisions. Whilst the right to request flexible working has been much critiqued because of its limited nature, there is little evidence and discussion of whether it provides a useable and effective process for employees and employers on its own terms. This article identifies three problems with the current legislation: employees can find it difficult to comply with the requirements for a valid statutory request, the difficulty of establishing and complying with the time limits in the legislation and finally the difficulty for tribunals in defining and applying core concepts relating to its power of review over employers’ decisions. These issues will not be resolved through the new Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 and in some ways will be made more difficult.