BLANKET bans on flexible working could leave police forces vulnerable to legal action, an employment lawyer has warned.<\/p>\n
Emma Hawksworth, a partner at Slater & Gordon Lawyers, said that any police officer requesting to work flexible hours must have their case judged on its individual merit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe presumption should always be that flexible working is possible in every role,\u201d Ms Hawksworth told delegates at the Women\u2019s Eve of Conference meeting.<\/p>\n
Rules that insist all officers work a certain number of shifts or start at certain times could leave forces open to a legal challenge if individual cases are not looked at properly, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have blanket rules laid down is actually very dangerous and puts forces in quite a vulnerable position,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
According to Ms Hawksworth, if a police force decides that a particular role cannot incorporate flexible working because of operational reasons, it must demonstrate its reasons, hold a consultation and speak to individuals concerned before any decision is reached.<\/p>\n
Ms Hawksworth said one of the most common requests for advice she receives is from women returning to work after having a child and trying to reintegrate into the workplace.<\/p>\n
Several delegates and speakers raised concerns that officers, particularly female officers, were finding it difficult to negotiate flexible working hours with their force.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is clear that when someone wants to work flexibly it is hugely difficult,\u201d said Jayne Monkhouse, an independent equality and diversity advisor. \u201cThey don\u2019t find it an easy transition from full-time to part time. In this day and age I think that is absolutely outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sgt Sam Roberts, chair of the Women\u2019s Eve of Conference, said the lack of flexible working could make it difficult to retain female officers over the next five to ten years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ll ever have a problem getting them to the door,\u201d she said. \u201cI think what will hurt them is as they go on and they realise that flexible working and part-time working isn\u2019t available – or is certainly curtailed somewhat – I think that will be the time when they leave the job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Jennifer Brown, a chartered occupational psychologist who is working on Lord Stevens\u2019 Independent Police Commission, echoed Sgt Roberts’s point.\u00a0\u201cWe have now got, I think, about 35% who are at the door in terms of recruitment,\u201d she said. \u201cBut until you get the flexible working sorted out the retention is going to be nigh impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BLANKET bans on flexible working could leave police forces vulnerable to legal action, an employment lawyer has warned. Emma Hawksworth, a partner at Slater & Gordon Lawyers, said that any\u2026 read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91,"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions\/91"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lancsfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}