Flexible Working Rejected After Maternity Leave: Should You Appeal?

A little while ago someone got in touch after their flexible working request had been rejected following maternity leave. They wanted me to look at the outcome letter and talk through where they could go from there.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t impressed.

The request had been refused, which does happen, but they had also put forward an alternative and the employer hadn’t engaged with it at all. There was no response, no acknowledgement, nothing to show it had even been considered.

They had long service with the company, just had a year off with their baby, and were about to return to work with a completely different life, and all they were asking for was a bit of flexibility to make that work. The employer relied on a few of the business reasons for rejecting it, but it didn’t really line up with what had actually been suggested, and there was nothing to show it couldn’t work in practice. It was all “may”, “might”, “could”.

There was a case for an appeal. The reasoning was vague, it didn’t properly deal with what had been proposed, and the fact they hadn’t engaged with the alternative she’d suggested gave her something real to challenge.

Before getting into any of that, I always ask the same question: what do you actually want from this?

Her answer was that she wasn’t even sure she wanted to go back.

We talked about whether discrimination could be involved. That’s ultimately something a tribunal would decide, but there was a potential argument there. Where someone has caring responsibilities, refusing any flexibility can raise questions under the Equality Act, particularly around indirect discrimination.

Before deciding whether to go down that route, it’s important to be clear on what it actually looks like. That could mean appealing the flexible working decision, raising a grievance as well, and potentially appealing that outcome too. Alongside that, there’s the decision about whether to stay or leave, and if leaving, whether to go to tribunal or try to negotiate a settlement.

It’s a long road which takes time, energy and resilience, and there are no guarantees at the end of it.

Not everyone wants to go through that, and that’s completely fine.

Some people do, but choosing not to doesn’t say anything about you other than you’re making a decision that works for your life. In this case, she didn’t want the stress. She wanted to be there for her baby and to work somewhere that would understand her situation and give her the flexibility she needed. Being able to walk from that takes a lot of strength as well. 

The next time we spoke, she was applying for jobs. She’d come to terms with not going back and was focused on moving forward, which was the right outcome for her.

Sometimes that’s what this is about. Not fighting every battle, but helping you work out what you actually want, what your options are, and what decision you can live with.

If your flexible working request has been rejected and you’re not sure where you stand or what to do next, that’s exactly the kind of conversation I am here for. 

Book a session here if you want to discuss your options. I also have a flexible working toolkit here