{"id":232527,"date":"2024-06-07T11:44:32","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T11:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/?p=232527"},"modified":"2024-06-07T11:44:32","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T11:44:32","slug":"tribunal-cases-to-rise-as-uk-firms-push-back-on-remote-working-experts-say-working-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/tribunal-cases-to-rise-as-uk-firms-push-back-on-remote-working-experts-say-working-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Tribunal cases to rise as UK firms push back on remote working, experts say | Working from home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Lawyers and HR experts expect an increase in employment tribunal cases as companies increasingly clamp down on working from home and staff become resentful that the flexibility they have enjoyed since the pandemic is being slowly rolled back.<\/p>\n

A number of companies are now advocating a full five-day return to the office, with others enforcing a minimum number of days in the workplace. Administrative staff at Boots, who previously worked in the office three days a week, will return to the office five days a week from September<\/a>. Many US banks, such as Goldman Sachs, also expect senior staff to come in for the full week, and its chief executive, David Solomon, labelled remote working an \u201caberration\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lawyers say some employers have become emboldened after an employment tribunal earlier this year rejected the case of a senior manager who sued the City watchdog, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA),<\/a> because she wanted to work at home full-time.<\/p>\n

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The employment judge Robert Richter ruled that the financial watchdog was within its rights to reject Elizabeth Wilson\u2019s request. He said there were \u201cweaknesses with remote working\u201d and added that the case raised a key issue \u201cwhich will no doubt be the subject of continued litigation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Richard Fox, a partner at Keystone Law, said that while each tribunal claim would turn on its own facts, the FCA case was significant and closely watched.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FCA case was not binding but employers have felt it is an important case to consider,\u201d he said. \u201cThe issue is becoming a battleground and we advise employers to play it very carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

The HR consultancy Hamilton Nash said it expected the number of employment tribunals involving remote working to rise this year.<\/p>\n

Its analysis of past employment tribunal records shows that 42 tribunals mentioned remote working in 2022 \u2013 up 50% from the 27 cases in 2021. In the first half of 2023, there were 23 cases, it said. This compares with before the pandemic, when only six employment tribunal cases in 2019 cited working from home, rising to 16 cases in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would expect more tribunal cases on working from home,\u201d said Jim Moore, an employee relations expert at Hamilton Nash. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing significant tensions between flexible working requests from people keen to secure their hybrid arrangements and employers pushing people back into the office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gemma Dale, a senior lecturer in the business school at Liverpool John Moores University, said the FCA case \u201cwas one of the few cases since the pandemic and there hasn\u2019t been that much case law\u201d.<\/p>\n

In some cases, business leaders were advocating a return to the office based on their personal views rather than by looking at data or academic studies on working from home, she said.<\/p>\n

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