Forced to work from home

[tallbob101]

Hi

During the pandemic i was working in the office as mine and around 12 other staff members had jobs that couldnt be done at home. Rest of the 150 odd staff were homeworking.

Fast forward to now and management have said if enough staff wish to remain at home, they will close the office and everyone will have to WFH full time. For those of us in the office other tasks will be given to us that can be completed at home.

And this is where our issue lies. Me and others (some in the office some currently at home) have said they dont want to WFH full time. It waa fine in the pandemic where you make do, but it wouldnt work longterm. Either because people dont have enough space at home, or suffer with mental health issues stuck at home all tge time

So what rights do we have? Can an employer force you to WFH when your contact still says office based? What if you physically cant due to space in your home?

i will be seeking more legal advise as management dont seem to have any answers for us

[ULA]

In order to advise you, I need to ask some gurther questions.

Does your contract clause providing your location of work state that the company has the right to change your work location in the future?

Is there any general clause in your contract about being able to vary the terms of the contract having given reasonable notice?

[tallbob101]

No to both questions

[ULA]

If there is nothing in your contract that allows the company to vary your location by either methods in post #2 then your employer needs to follow a fair process to implement a change in your terms and conditions. This needs to be via a consultation process to try and get agreement to the changes.

If you do not agree the law does recognise that employers have to adapt to changing market conditions, and that sometimes the contract of employment must be varied to reflect this. If your employer has given reasonable and due consideration to objections such as adequate work space, mental health etc. and any alternative suggestions such as setting up a hot desking centre in a reduced sized work location, that you put forward, but deem those suggestions to be unworkable, then they can terminate your original contract and offer a new one in its place on the new terms in this case the change of location to work from home.

If you do not agree to the changes, then you must make it clear to your employer which you should do in writing, sign and date your letter, and keep a copy. This letter will count as a written grievance. If you don’t tell your employer you disagree with a change, this will be taken to mean that you’ve accepted it. You should do this straight away, or as soon as possible after the change has been introduced. You can continue to work 'under protest' for a while but you can’t do this indefinitely without taking further action.

[tallbob101]

Thank you for the advise.

They have said HR will be down to discuss everything with us, so wanted to get abit of advise before then so i know what rights i have etc. Seems there isnt much we can do though. If the office is closing, then its closing and homeworking is the only option (unless redundancy is on the table but dont really want that). Even if they accept our grievance, i doubt they will find another office just for the few of us that dont want to or cant work from home

[ULA]

It may be an idea to see what HR have to say when they come down and you have this thread here so if you want to come back and ask any further questions then please do so.

[tallbob101]

So HR came down, said its highly likely the office will close and we will be forced to work from home. I asked what if we couldnt for various reasons, and they said unless you had a valid reason that HR accepted, then you would have to. If they accept the reason, then redundancy is an option

Going to ring my union on Monday. I dont want redundancy (although it would be around 32k) id rather have a job. But home working isnt feasible

[ULA]

Thank you for the update.

Good idea to contact your Union and you have the option to come back to this thread if you want to check anything with us here at LegalBeagles.