Salary sacrifice schemes will be restricted

The Government have announced that some salary sacrifice schemes will be abolished from 6 April 2017.

The schemes that will be abolished relate to private medical insurance, health screening, gym membership, company cars, mobile phones and white goods.

Schemes related to pension savings, childcare, cycle to work and ultra-low emission cars will not be affected.

Schemes in place prior to April 2017 will be protected until April 2018, schemes relating to cars, accommodation and school fees will be protected until April 2021..  

Contact us for more details on 01245 261883

New mother request to homeworking rejected

An employment tribunal accepted that there is no absolute obligation on employers to accept new mothers’ requests to work flexibly on their return from maternity leave.

New mother’s rejected homeworking request handled in a “reasonable manner”

In Whiteman v CPS Interiors Ltd and others, the employment tribunal held that an employer properly handled a new mother’s rejected flexible working request to work from home.

Ms Whiteman, a designer for a company that refurbishes commercial premises, requested to reduce her hours on her return from maternity leave after having twins. Her employer accepted her request.

However, the employer turned down Ms Whiteman’s request to work from home (apart from occasional office visits) and to do most of her work in the evenings (after 6pm).

The employer considered that, although working at home primarily in the evenings might have been possible, it could not accommodate the homeworking request because:
 

• its collaborative way of working often involves designers together in a room looking at technical designs; and

• designs often have to be changed at short notice, something that would be difficult if the employee worked only at home in the evenings.

Ms Whiteman resigned, citing the handling of her flexible working request as the reason. She rejected the employer’s offer to deal with her complaints under the company’s grievance procedure and to retract her resignation.

She brought tribunal claims for breaches of the flexible working legislation, constructive dismissal and indirect sex discrimination.

The employment tribunal rejected all her claims, stressing that there is no right to work flexibly, only a right to request to work flexibly.

Employers must follow the “ACAS code of practice on handling in a reasonable manner requests to work flexibly”. However, as long as their approach is not discriminatory, they can reject a flexible working request on one of the specified grounds under the legislation.

Please contact us if you would like to discuss any requests to flexible working on 01245 261883