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Personnel Today

Ignoring flexible working requests could be costly

by Personnel Today 10 Dec 2002
by Personnel Today 10 Dec 2002

The
Department of Trade & Industry has ruled that companies who do not take
parents’ requests for a new work-life balance seriously could have to pay them
up to eight weeks’ pay.

The
decision should please business groups who wanted the limit to be four weeks –
and rile unions and equal rights campaigners who demanded a 52-week penalty.

From
April, the Government’s flexible working regulations will give parents with
young and disabled children the right to request flexible working.

However,
they do not have the right to demand new hours, and many commentators believe
employers will dodge the issue.

While
the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Patricia Hewitt, tries to
promote work-life balance, her moves are designed to minimise any adverse impact
on the economy.

The
Trades Union Congress said the penalties should be greater: "Eight weeks’
pay is not a sufficient deterrent for the minority of employers who aren’t
going to take this seriously," it said.

www.dti.gov.uk

Personnel Today
Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

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