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over the past couple of weeks several
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major companies have made decisions to
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call staff back to the office fulltime
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sparking a heated debate on Monday a
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petition demanding to ad join wpp
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revoking its new office policy attracted
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10,000 signatures in Just 4 days that's
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after City am revealed that it would be
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forcing staff to come back 4 days a week
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and last week around 4,000 members of
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the public and Commercial service Union
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were set to take industrial action after
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staff were ordered to come back to the
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office office 3 days a week during covid
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and in the Years following a lot of
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people set their lives up around
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flexible working systems it looks like
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those plans are now being flipped so do
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employees have some scope to push back
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let's break down on the legal side of
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things can employers Force employees
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back to the office while this all comes
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down to employees contracts an employee
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contract must set out the core working
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hours and sometimes specifies agile or
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hybrid working Arrangements Garvey h out
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a partner Bloomsbury Square employment
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law said that if a contract specifies
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that normal place of work is in the
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office then in most circumstances the
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employer can insist upon an employee
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return to that office from the employer
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side businesses have to consider the
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reasons for any employee refusals
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reasonably particularly were issues such
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as health reasons child care or care
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dependent elderly relatives are raised
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but that doesn't prevent employers from
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instructing the whole work Workforce to
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return so Can employees challenge this
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change well last April the right to
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request flexible working became a day
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one right replacing the previous
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requirements for employees to have at
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least 26 weeks service under their belt
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before asking the law was not the right
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to have flexible working but the right
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to request it and back to the issue of
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employment contracts due to co many
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employers introduce working from home
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policies rather than changing the place
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of work in employment contracts working
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from home policies are usually
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non-contractual meaning they are outside
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the employment contract and are not
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legally binding so they can usually be
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changed by employer depending on the
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need of the business Can employees be
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penalized for not turning to the office
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Tanya Goodman a partner at Law Firm Kia
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Bristo stated that an employee would be
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penalized if they didn't comply with the
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policies she said if employee doesn't
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have the contractable right to insist on
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remote working then the refusal could
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remain to miss contact with
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consequential disciplinary sanctions
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this includes dismissal with all this in
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mind are there any proposals that might
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protect the right to flexible working in
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the employment Rights bill the
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employment Rights bill has kept every
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employment lawyer very busy since it was
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revealed by the new government last
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October the bill does touch on flexible
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working but there are some rules around
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what permits it the proposed changes
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include any refusal to Grant a request
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must not just be the one of eight
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statutary reasons but it must also be
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reasonable to recuse the request
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employers would also be required to
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explain the decision is reasonable and a
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new code of practice on the right to
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disconnect will also be included which
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intends to prevent remote working
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turning into homes of 24/7 offices the
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employment tribunal will also see a
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knock on effect from this overhaul and
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despite the headline catching changes
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contained within the bill a backlogged
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at the employment tribunal will make it
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harder for employees to hold employers
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to account here at CM we would like to
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know do you think employees should have
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the right to a flexible working setup
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let us know in the comments and follow
