Flexible working for all - the future? How will employers adjust?

Speaker(s):

Marian Bloodworth, Partner, Employment Group

 
Marian advises commercial clients on a range of employment law issues, including general day-to-day advisory work, disciplinary and grievance issues, redundancy and restructuring programmes, diversity and equality matters as well as contentious issues. She has particular interests in family friendly rights, diversity and equal opportunities.

Eleanor Porter, Senior Associate

Eleanor has a broad range of experience in both contentious and advisory aspects of employment law gained across a wide range of industries including recruitment, finance, media and legal. She has represented both employers and employees in a wide spectrum of cases in the Employment Tribunal with a particular focus on complex discrimination claims. She has acted in a number of indirect sex discrimination claims bought by working mothers. Eleanor has presented at a number of seminars and conferences and has been widely quoted on the implications of the Equality Act.

Event details: Flexible working is becoming ever more popular. The Government is keen to promote flexible working for all, seeing it as a way to address the current gender imbalance for women who are perceived to shoulder the burden of family care. Others look to flexible working as a way of riding out the recession and avoiding the need for redundancies. Tie that in with employees’ growing appreciation for flexible working practices, and you have a potent mix.

But how easy is it in practice to accommodate flexible working requests - particularly where resources are already stretched? How can employers manage competing requests and what are the legal risks?

This session will consider how employers should deal with requests and the factors they can take into account when refusing them. We will also look at how tribunals approach flexible working requests - including the controversial decision in Hacking & Paterson and another v Wilson - and the thorny issue of whether cost alone can ever justify turning down a request.

For more information:

• Email Branch Administrator  

Contact phone number  07847857111