Handling flexible working requests fairly
Receive, consider and decide requests to change hours, times or place of work fairly and on time: acknowledge and log, consult the employee, explore options and trials, decide on genuine business grounds, explain the decision, offer an appeal and review what you agreed. Spot requests that are really adjustment, pregnancy, religious or caring-leave matters and route them. Uses the UK statutory procedure as the worked reference and explains the US position; follow your own policy and local law.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Length
- About 55 minutes
- Contents
- 3 lessons · 1 video · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 1 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Check whether a written request contains what the UK statutory procedure requires, and log it with the date received
- Run a consultation meeting that explores the request, modifications, alternatives and a trial period before any refusal
- Decide within the decision period and write a decision that confirms the arrangement or explains the business reason for refusal
- Handle an appeal impartially and keep decisions consistent with similar earlier requests
- Recognize requests that also need the accommodation or adjustment process, or other leave rights, and route them correctly
Course outline
- 1.Handling flexible working requests fairlyVideo · 4 min
- 2.What a flexible working request is, and which rules applyLesson · 17 min
- 3.Receiving, consulting and consideringLesson · 19 min
- 4.Deciding, explaining, appeals and reviewLesson · 19 min
- 5.Handling flexible working requests fairly: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 19 questions
- 6.Handling flexible working requests fairly: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 7."If I say yes to her, they'll all want it"Scenario
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- GOV.UK: Flexible working (who can apply, making a request, business reasons for refusal; UK example)
- Acas Code of Practice on requests for flexible working (published 6 April 2024; UK example)
- The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023, SI 2023/1328 (day-one right from 6 April 2024)
- Acas consultation: draft Code of Practice on requests for flexible working (changes from the Employment Rights Act 2025, expected autumn 2027)
- GOV.UK: Carer's leave (UK example)
- US Department of Labor: Flexible Schedules (the FLSA does not address flexible work schedules)
- EEOC: Enforcement Guidance on Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship under the ADA (US example)
- EEOC: What You Should Know About the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (US example)
- EEOC: Compliance Manual Section 12, Religious Discrimination (US example)
- General HR practice: fair process, confidentiality and documentation. Your own policies and local law apply; involve HR or legal advisers
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