Employers obligations in reducing hours?

Question

Hi folks,

I'm wanting to cut down my hours at work from full time to part time to go back into education, i work for a reasonably large company and they have a lot of staff. Obviously coming up to september they have had a fair few requests off me and a number of other colluges to cut down the hours to go back into education.

Although i gave them a reasonable ammount of notice that i was wanting this change implemented, and this was 'pretty much' verbally agreed to. They have stated that they may not be able to cater for this anymore and that this will have to be reviewed for them to come to a descion, as to who will be able to and who will not be allowed this.

basically i just want to know my rights, if any, on the matter, i have been told that emplers do have a few legal obligations to try and cater for employees who need to cut hours down for further education? does anybody know the deal with this at all, just when i go to the meeting regarding this i'd like to have as much information at my disposal as possible, as they have left it till the week before i am due to go into education and therefore dont really have much notice to lok for anothe job?

Answer 1

You need to tell us where you live and work.  The laws in the United States are VERY different from the laws in the UK, France, or Australia.  In many European countries, the employees have more rights than the employers.  So we need to know where you are.

In the US, the employer is not obligated to allow you to work part-time just because you want to go to school.  The employer, and ONLY the employer, has the right and the responsibility to decide what work has to be done to keep the business running.  If they decide that they need (for example) 18 full-time data entry clerks and 4 part-time clerks, they don't have to allow anyone else to become part-time if there are already 4 part-timers on staff.  They CAN allow it if they so choose, but they aren't required to.  And, if they have multiple employees who want to become part-time, the supervisor can pick and choose which ones should have that privilege.  They don't have to honor someone's request just because that person asked first or has worked there longest.  The supervisor has the right to choose the employees who he thinks will be the most valuable and most productive as part-timers.

If you are in some other country, please let us know so that someone from your country can respond with specifics that apply to you.

Answer 2

In the UK, employers are under no obligation to undertake your request. They can look at the request but if it doesn't suit their business needs then you would need to look for alternative employment.

Could this be an example where they would for a productive member of staff who they don't want to lose ? Makes you think !!

Answer 3

Any employer does not have to agree with your request.  The employer sets the rules, hours worked, etc.  If you can't abide by their rules, then you need to find another job.........probably part time as those are the only flexible positions to attend college.

Answer 4

An employer has no legal obligation to allow you to move to part time.

Answer 5

They will most likely try to accommodate best they can, but they don't have to.  Unless you have a some sort of written contract, you don't have any rights and they could let you go if they wanted to.