In a decision that may appear harsh, the employment tribunal penalised the employer almost £3,000 for failing to follow the statutory right to request flexible working procedure to the letter, even though the managing director may have been distracted because he was dealing with possible redundancies at the same time.
A manager's disastrous mishandling of an application for flexible working, from an employee who had returned from maternity leave, meant that she resigned and successfully claimed constructive dismissal.
In Commotion Ltd v Rutty, the EAT holds that it was open to the employment tribunal to find that an employee's formal application under the right to request flexible working satisfied step one of the statutory grievance procedure where it was presented after the refusal of an informal flexible working request.