No it isn’t
Headline from the Beeb:
Flexible working to be extended
No it isn't.
The right to *ask* for flexible working is to be extended. The right for employers *to say no* to everyone who asks for it, so long as you give 'reasonable' excuses, and for employees to have no recourse to anything other than an appeal hearing, remains in all cases. Trust the 'loony leftist' BBC to get that one wrong.
Following the recommendations of an independent review, Business Secretary John Hutton said the move would give a "big boost" to busy parents.
No it won't. No-one has to say yes to any of these requests, ever. It's a totally pointless piece of legislation unless there is some form of regulation. But then that would be the kind of 'wasteful' red tape that David Cameron's only going to stick on the bonfire anyway when he gets in, so why bother? And besides, as if New Labour has ever really given a shit about working people and their rights.
Leaders of small businesses have criticised the step and said it could be damaging to firms.
Yes, I'm sure it's the 'small businesses' who are worried about this and not massive corporations like, er, the BBC. These 'small businesses' clearly haven't understood *they can say no every single time, and not be worried about any comeback whatsoever*. Maybe the BBC explained it to them, or something.
However, Federation of Small Businesses chairman Alan Tyrrell said: "The announcement puts small businesses in an impossible position.
"You can't have an extension of flexible working and at the same time clamp down on the means by which many small businesses cope with it which is often through temporary workers.
Blub, blub, blub. Yeah I bet you're really pissed off that you can still say no to everyone every single time and no-one can do anything about it. That's really bad news, isn't it. Oh and you have to treat temporary workers a tiny waffer-thin bit more like human beings rather than cattle. Aw diddums. Grow up and get the fuck on with it.
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May 15th, 2008 - 16:31
Not sure about employees having absolutely no recourse in the case of a refusal. Many refusals for flxible working will potentially be discriminatory and you’re usually then into Employment Tribunal territory with no statutory limit on damages.
Of course, the place where Nulab has really sold the workers down the river is in access to Employment Tribunals. Its now much harder to get to one because you have to follow the employer’s grievance procedure first (my employer spun mine out to 10 months, 10 times what the procedure says it should be), get past that and an ET is every bit as formal and procedure bound as the High Court ie much more so than when Nulab came to power and of course you can’t get legal aid for the representation, despite this extra complexity. The rationale for not allowing legal aid for representation at tribunals generally is that they are informal, inquisitorial and simple. None of these apply to ETs anymore.
The final nail in the coffin is that although you can get legal aid for help with preparation of a case in theory, thanks to Nulab’s changes and cuts to the legal aid system, finding a solicitor who is willing to take your case is much more difficult, pretty much like it is for all poor people’s legal issues these days.