A London real estate agent has won a claim against her former employer for indirect sex discrimination over the issue of flexible working hours.
Alice Thompson, who was working as a sales manager for Manors estate agents in 2018, asked her boss, Paul Sellars, if she could work flexible hours when she returned from maternity leave.
Ms Thompson asked if, upon her return, she could drop down from five days a week to four and that she finish at 5PM instead of 6PM so she could get to her child’s nursery before it closed. She had explained that she was not able to get anyone else to collect her daughter from nursery as her husband worked later than her and she had no other family in London.
Mr Sellars denied Ms Thompson’s request, saying the ‘staff reorganisation’ and ‘additional costs’ made it impossible to agree. He further stated that maintaining client relationships was an essential feature of sales and this required consistency and continuity with the sales managers. As a result of his refusal, Ms Thompson resigned.
The Tribunal acknowledged that it is still the case that mothers are more likely to carry primary responsibility when it comes to childcare arrangements and as such found that Ms Thompson was put at a disadvantage. Judge Sarah Goodman concluded that the decision not to allow Ms Thompson flexible working hours was inappropriate and that Mr Sellars’ refusal of the proposed reduction in working hours was not proportionate to the needs of the business.
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