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About 6 months ago I started a thread about how all employees at my work were having to go back into the office for 2 days a week following most of the company working from home through covid. I however have worked from home for last 10 years, so don’t think this should apply to me without them going through due process. Not only that but other people in my team aren’t having to do it as their contracts were officially changed to make them home workers, but mine never was for reasons unknown to me
anyhow, I’ve challenged this but want to know my justification is legally sound. As such I want to speak to an employment lawyer for clarification. Is paying for online legal advice the best approach, or should i be trying to find a local specialist and having a sit down. Only hr legal professionals I’m aware of work for massive legal firms and I doubt I can just walk in off street and pay for an hr of their time
ta
Try UCAS?
It might be that home working is contractually implied as your established precident of ten years is working from home.
I would go for a sit down with a local specialist. this will be a custom and practice case I would think and you have a strong case
Local firm who has a specialist in employment law. We used a local firm for something recently and they were excellent. Did it over a Teams call but could have gone in person, was just more convenient to do a call.
I would go for a sit down with a local specialist. this will be a custom and practice case I would think and you have a strong case
that’s exactly my rationale tj. It’s custom and practice, and it’s implied as it’s not been challenged in 10 years. In fact my old boss even verbally confirmed i was now an official home worker (in front of the rest of the team!)
What does your union rep say? 😉
Not even heard back from them tj. Although tbf the entire company is up in arms about it so I assume they are busy!!😂
Are you prepared to leave?
Its ok to be proven right, but take any employer on a legal battle and your life at work isn’t going to be fun thereafter
Its ok to be proven right, but take any employer on a legal battle and your life at work isn’t going to be fun thereafter
my boss is totally on my side and I’m 99% sure if I point out that legally they don’t have a leg to stand on then they’ll backtrack pretty quickly. They absolutely wont want it to go to any form of tribunal as if they lost it would set a precedent for the many others who are probably in a similar position. I just don’t want to rock up to the meeting and spout my legal rights without first confirming I know what I’m talking about!
Also even if I did, they are a huge company, no one other than the board seem to think this change in working practice is a good idea, and I’m very confident no one would hold it against me either way, certainly none of the people I deal with on a daily basis
May sound harsh but they are your employer and if they want you to work in an office that's what you will have to do.
Where I worked the policy was changed to people office locations.
You may get away with it but legally I doubt it, depends if they want to give you the flexibility.
Depends how much you value the job.
An example of this in practice.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/21/bt_ceo_orders_staff_back/
As he has been a home worker for ten years its custom ad practice / assumed contract. so in effect they are changing his contract which they need a good business reason to do.
the OP is NOT requesting flexible working. He has been working from home for a decade. Status quo applies unless the company can provide a good business reason why he has to come to the office
As he has been a home worker for ten years its custom ad practice / assumed contract
Are you a qualified professional to be saying things like that ?
I've watched this scenario fail in a tribunal court in what seemed like a shoe in case.
My colleague at the time got shafted imo but as was explained at the time. Custom and practice lacks words and conditions and so is very difficult to prove it was ever actually agreed to. Unless you have it in writing - If your company has any good lawyer you'll be fighting the tide
No - informed layman - which is why my first post was " see a local professional"
But I have fought cases on that basis as a union rep and Julie used to do tribunals. We won every one on custom and practice
so is very difficult to prove it was ever actually agreed to
It doesn't have to be. You can tell from previous working patterns. a change to working patterns that you have done for a decade is a change in your terms and conditions
You don't often see “professional" an "hr" in the same sentence....
Well my colleagues downfall was that the complete opposite to what he was suggesting was written in the contract and he didn't even have an email to back up that what he was doing had been agreed to just his word that he had been doing it. Which didn't fly in a tribunal
Then you have the issue of trying to find people to back you up that you were doing it. current employees unlikely to seek trouble by being party to the game.
https://www.tuc.org.uk/guidance/what-meant-custom-and-practice-employment-terms
https://www.davidsonmorris.com/custom-and-practice/
Both similar.
You dont need anyone to "back you up". If you haven't been in the office for a decade its pretty clear what the working pattern has been
If his managers are prepared to say that he has been working in the office for the last 10 years when in reality he hasn’t, then I’d be looking for employment elsewhere.
If you haven’t been in the office for a decade its pretty clear what the working pattern has been
Assuming you can actually prove you haven't been in the office for a decade.
Hence the "back it up statement "
You clearly know best as always but I have watched folk go to tribunal with the same confidence you are displaying and fall flat on their face.
Go see a professional and heed their advice.
If his managers are prepared to say that he has been working in the office for the last 10 years
My colleague had had successive new managers between agreement and the tribunal - which may have contributed.
Go see a professional and heed their advice.
Agreed as I said in my first post
As above - Its not straightforward or certain but I have fought tougher cases and won them as did Mrs TJ.
An example of this in practice
not the same at all. If I’d been an office worker pre covid, and they’d said work from home until it’s safe to come back in, then that’s obviously exceptionally circumstances - ie an unprecedented pandemic . I’ve been a home worker for ten years.
Obviously they could insist that I return, but I’m arguing that would require me to be consulted as it’s basically a change to my implied contract
As for proving I’ve worked from home, that’s not exactly going to be hard. Log in details, building access and my team will all confirm this
I wonder how this went?
Right outcome hopefully.
I'm afraid that even if you successfully argue custom and practice it doesn't stop your employer seeking to change your terms. There is a process to follow but an employer can make it stick relatively easily.
My advice if you have a reasonable boss is talk it all through and if you have a good argument then hopefully they will listen. Both parties may need to compromise a little. If not your choices are threefold, 1. Fight it, 2. Accept it or 3. Leave. All depends upon how strongly you feel about it.
Good luck, sometimes HR people are sensible, pragmatic and professional let's hope you get one of these.
I’m afraid that even if you successfully argue custom and practice it doesn’t stop your employer seeking to change your terms. There is a process to follow but an employer can make it stick relatively easily.
yep agreed, my point however is they should be going through the appropriate process. And if they do that for me they should be doing it for my 3 team mates who for some reason have got home working already in their contract, despite the fact I’ve been working from home for longer than they have (8 years for me Vs 6 for them). And none of them are expected to go into the office because they are ‘contractually’ home workers, so officially exempt from the new policy.
Honestly, I'd just ignore it and see if anyone notices or cares. However, as I said earlier and TJ pooh-poohed,
You have a legal right to request flexible working.
https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working/blockquote >
If you want to work from home and can do so effectively, your employer cannot refuse that request without good reason and "we want you to come in" is not good enough. If you've been doing it for the last ten years than that surely demonstrates that you are able to unless your role has changed in the interim. So they can either drop this 'policy' nonsense or you can go through HR and force them to. The former of which is simpler for all concerned.
team mates who for some reason have got home working already in their contract, despite the fact I’ve been working from home for longer
As I understand it - and I may be wrong here - if you are working from home three days a week then you are ipso facto a home worker (and should be claiming travel expenses for the other two days). At my previous employer, engineers often talked about how they couldn't come into the office three days a week as they'd be reclassified as office-based. Which I think is a HMRC thing, otherwise you could declare your main office as John O'Groats and claim tax on the mileage from there if you had to drive half a mile down the road one day.