Hi, my name is Beautifuljoy!

Beautifuljoy

Hello everyone I'm new and look forward to interacting with you all. 

Beautifuljoy

Hi Everyone,

Feeling distressed and unsupported by my employer.

I live with invisable, learning and physical disabilities and currently working from home as advised by OH due to the pandemic and classed as extremely vulnerable person.


I've moved over to a new time with same employer and have been informed where moving to Hybrid working and i'm expected to attend the office 2 days.

Due to the changes in my impairments and breakdown in childcare arrangements and caring for to elderly relatives.

I wrote to my employer requesting reasonable adjustments to work from home Monday to Friday as this would best support me as a 4 hour commute would have adverse affects on my health.

Employer wrote back stating I knew when I applied for the role is would be office and that I am expected in the office on the 2 days and to sort out my own childcare and look at flexible working. Totally disregarding my disabilities.

So now unsure what to do and feel lost as they also stated these no need for a OH referral as restrictions is remover and back to normal.

Any tips on how I can respond before I had in my resignation as I feel there's no other option and I'm more of a bother to my employer 

Thanks in advance 

SueHeath

Morning @Beautifuljoy welcome to our great group.
I am sure you will be greeted by other members when they wake up ha ha.
Sorry i don't have an answer for you but i do know we have some great people who are in the no with HR 
I don't know if @janer1967 could be of any help with this one or she  might put you in the right direction. While you are waiting for any responses 
feel free to have a look around the site, join in on any of the chats/threads if you wish.

janer1967

Hi there and welcome 

This is difficult one and you may not like the response 

Did you used to work in the office prior to pandemic? 

The length of commute is concerning but I presume you did this before and its not your employees responsibility that you took on a job so far away 

Also childcare is your responsibility and they have offered flexible working which is there only requirement 

I understand it is difficult to go back to office but again they are only requesting 2 days 

It seems the main reason you don't want to go back are not specifically related to your disability rather your personal circumstances 

You can appeal the decision to refuse reasonable adjustments but do this based on your disability and state the impact it would have on your health to return . Have you considered part time also detail how well working from home has improved your ability to focus and be more productive 

Other advice is available through acas they have a website or a union 

Ross_Alumni

Hello @Beautifuljoy and welcome to the community, thanks for making this post and sorry to hear what you are going through.

Have you looked into requesting the adjustments you want as part of a flexible working request? If you can make a case that the adjustments you need will not have a business impact on your employer then they may be more likely to approve the request. Even if they don't, there are options for appeal.

You could consider getting in touch with ACAS for some professional advice about your situation, they also have a page about flexible working requests.

janer1967

Flexible work requests are for those with caring responsibilities which the op has with childcare and caring for others buf they must live in the same household to be taken into account 

The poster indicated they had been offered flexible working 

I think what they are looking for is reasonable adjustments due to health as per the equality act 

However I think the issue is they need to demonstrate how their health needs have changed resulting in them no longer being able to do what they did pre pandemic 

Ross_Alumni

Hi @janer1967

Thanks for your reply. 

Regarding flexible working requests, as detailed in the page I shared above:

By law, you have the right to make a flexible working request if:

• you’ve worked for your employer for at least 26 weeks

• you’re legally classed as an employee

• you’ve not made any other flexible working request in the last 12 months

All employees have the right to request flexible working, including if you’re:

• a parent

• a carer

• returning from maternity leave

If you’re a parent or carer,  your employer might have other ways for you to take time off. For example, parental leave to look after your child or time off for dependants. Check your workplace’s policy.

There doesn't appear to be a mention of employees needing to have caring responsibilities to make the request, from what I understand anybody can make a request for flexible working but each employer may have different policies on it. It might be worth trying to find any policies your employer has in relation to flexible working and the other arrangements mentioned in the quote above @beautifuljoy, 

When they asked you to look at flexible working, do you know what they meant by this? Did they mean other roles that would offer it?

janer1967

@Ross_Scope

Yes ant employee can request flexible working buf it needs to be for a valid reason eg caring responsibility 

If not everyone would want it for reasons like wanting an early finish on Friday or not to work weekends or unsocial hours and so on 

Being a carer or parent is valid reason 

Flexible working is about flexibility around working days and hours in order to allow the employee to carry out their personal responsibilities 

Beautifuljoy

@janer1967
Since I've started with my employer I have worked from home and lived within travel distance and due to changes within my health and circumstances I have to care for my relatives during the week and my sons childminder moved abroad and I have been trying to get some consistent to assist but have found a suitable person yet.


I discussed the matter with my manger in my supervisions and of my concerns of which she agreed I could continue to work from home. However that requirements have changed but mainly my disability was the primary reason why I requested reasonable adjustments the matters are secondary.

I did express how my impairments affects me and that I am not able to walk long distances as I used be and experience pains within my upper and lower limbs

Beautifuljoy

I really couldn't afford to working part-time would be difficult as full-time salary would cover my financial commitments 

Beautifuljoy

@Ross_Scope
Thank you. I am made to understand management normally dimisse requests related to disabled employees. It feels I expected to request under the flexible route rather than the changes in my conditions and how I manage. I hoped to receive advice from OH since transferring into my new post last August, however I feel there is an active obstruction to refer me by management to seek advice 

Beautifuljoy

@SueHeath
Thank you

janer1967

That explains a bit more thanks 

If you starred the job working from home did they ever say that arrangement was likely to change ?

You should be able to self refer to oh if you have their details from prev involvement 

As before I would appeal their decision focus on your disability and how going into office would affect your health and why after working from hone successful all this time that this now has to change 

There is lots advice in the employment section on here and also on the acas website 

You say you care for relatives in the week which I presume going to the office will prevent you doing and also childcare 

As before these are more personal issues and I totally understand how change in your work situation will affect this but I'm aying devil's advocate here looking from employers perspective 

You should be allowed time to make arrangements for child care but apart from that it is something lots of people have to arrange in order to work full time 

I sure understand as a single mum myself who worked in full time job with 3 hours drive per day 

My son went to breakfast club and after school club and I carried on working at home in the evening to make up hours 

Beautifuljoy

@janer1967
There was no indication that I would have to return back to the office until receiving an email reply to my request for reasonable adjustments to wfh mon-friday. It mentioned also that I had known before and sign the contract that my job is office based.

But I will read more info and focus on my disability I was just shocked that the didn't acknowledge the start of my request related to my disability they made no reference to it at all.

janer1967

You say return to the office ? I thought your earlier post said you worked from home since you started ? 

Check your contract 

Also consider looking into access to work they can fund taxi to get you to work which could reduce the commute 

2 days office based isn't an unreasonable request in my opinion 

Good luck let us know how you get on 

Beautifuljoy

@janer1967
Correct since I started I've worked from home. However now the restrictions are relaxed staff are now expected to return to office.

janer1967

Did they emphasise when you took the job.that it would be office based post pandemic I know you say it was in your contract but we all know we don't always read the small print 

You could indicate one of the reasons you took the job was due to home working but they will just point you back to contract 

My advice would be to appeal and focus on the disability side rather than anything else requesting reasonable adjustments under the equality act 

Explain how it will affect your health and ask for reasons why they can't accommodate when you have been doing this since you started.  What value business reason do they have to not put the request in place 

Beautifuljoy

@janer1967
Thank you, I will keep you posted. But will tread carefully as I want to maintain a good working relationship with my employer. Many thanks