Bosses to find it harder to deny working from home requests under new Labour rules

NewsPolitics BOSSES will find it harder to deny working from home requests under new rules announced today by Labour. Employers will soon be compelled to hold face-to-face meetings with their employees to consider every flexible working request. First Secretary of State Louise Haigh speaking during the TUC Congress at the Brighton Centre Credit: PA Prime Minister Andy Burnahm Credit: PA Top Cabinet Minister Louise Haigh outlined the changes at the annual Trade Union Congress conference in Brighton. It is the latest addition to a controversial package of worker rights that have been agreed by Labour since the election. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Thank you! Addressing the left-wing rally today, Ms Haigh said: “Life isn’t always as neat as we’d like it to be. “Or as employers would like it to be. There’s kids to pick up. Parents to look after. Families who rely on us at short notice. And sometimes, a little bit of flexibility can make all the difference. “Now, I know that businesses have to make things work too. Not every job can be done from home. “And not every request can be agreed. But every request can be taken seriously. “So today I can announce that we will strengthen the right to flexible working. If an employer wants to turn down a request. “They will have to sit down with their employee. Properly consider it. And explain why.” Most read in The Sun The move is designed to stop flexible working requests becoming a “box-ticking exercise”, with bosses expected to explain how they reached their decision and justify why an arrangement cannot be accommodated. Workers already have the right to request flexible working, but employers can reject applications on a number of business grounds. The new rules will strengthen what counts as giving a request “fair consideration” rather than handing employees an automatic right to work from home. It comes amid a wider row over Labour’s sweeping employment reforms, which have introduced a raft of new protections for workers. Ms Haigh hailed the Employment Rights Act as the “biggest uplift” in workers’ rights in a generation. She told union bosses the changes included sick pay from day one, curbs on fire and rehire, greater protections for mums and dads and stronger safeguards against unfair dismissal. The Government is also cracking down on “exploitative” zero-hours contracts, which Ms Haigh said currently give “employers all the flexibility” and workers “all the insecurity”. But Labour’s workers’ rights overhaul has faced fierce opposition from some business groups over fears it will pile extra costs and red tape onto employers. But Ms Haigh used her speech to make clear the Government would not retreat, declaring: “You have my word: We will never go back.” She also hit out at the Thatcher era for weakening trade unions and claimed they were later “vilified through the era of Tory austerity”. Comment now